Republic City High: Where Everyone is Equal
by iheartanime434
Summary: Korra finally made it to Republic City, but as "punishment" she is ordered to go a highschool by authorities. She makes friends, but she soon learns many secrets, from gangs to underground hide outs; even finding herself caught in the middle of a brewing war that'll change Republic City forever. But she crosses the line she falls for one of a gangs most prized members.
1. Welcome to Highschool

**A/N: HELLO AGAIN :D YES, I'm taking a break from my other story for a short moment, to make this one. I really hope you like it, and please excuse my amateur writing skills ;_; I just started, but anyways, enjoy~~**

**Korra's POV**

"GOOD MORNING REPUBLIC CITY! Welcome to the morning show with your hos—" the alarm clock yelled obnoxiously before I ended up earthbending it into the ceiling, silencing it permanently. I dread the mornings I have to get up early, like this one.

"Korra! That's the third one this week!" Pema scolded, pulling the covers off of me. "Pema!" I groaned, so wishing it was still summer.

In case you're wondering, I'm Korra, the _avatar_. Yeah, big woop and all that. I recently came to Republic City to learn my airbending with Tenzin. But I had not anticipated the possibility of going to a public high school; waking up early, going to classes every day. I guess this is my punishment for sneaking off to Republic City on my own.

"Korra, today's your first day and you're still being impossible. Come on now, Asami will be here any minute waiting for you," Pema notified, picking up the pieces of what used to be my alarm clock.

"I'll get it," I assured her, finally getting out of bed. That was the least I could do, seeing that Tenzin welcomed me into his home, they fed me and all. Plus Pema's six months pregnant, which must be hard on her.

Pema got up and rubbed her bulging belly, looking at it longingly. "Alright then, make sure you get ready soon," Pema said, then went out the room so I could get ready. I sighed, and put on my usual outfit; a plain light blue halter top, skin-tight dark blue jeans and brown high tops. Looking in the mirror, I thought I looked pretty damn good. Although, Asami kept pestering me on and on about trying some strange, black stuff called mascara. She kept saying "It'll bring out your eyes." Ha. I'd love to see the day I'd ever wear makeup. I don't know how girls _stand_ the stuff.

I just finished putting my hair up when I heard the familiar ringtone go off in my pocket. I pulled my phone out to see a text message from Asami.

Asami:_ "Hurry up and get your ass in the car, I've been waiting out here for five minutes!" _

I grinned at her message and quickly grabbed my bag, running out of my room.

I saw Ikki and Meelo running around in circles around their mother on those strange balls of air. I wonder if that'd get me to school fast enough.

"Here's your lunch," Pema said, handing me a bag. "Thanks, Pema," I yelled back, running out the door, feeling the heat beating down mercilessly as soon as I got out. I saw Asami's sleek black mustang with pink stripes running all around the sides of it; Asami was thumping her finger on the wheel of her car impatiently, smiling at me though. I grinned back and jumped in.

"It's about time, you were going slower than a lion-turtle," Asami teased, pulling the car into reverse and then making her ways towards the school. I rolled my eyes at her comment; "Yeah yeah, whatever," I mumbled. Asami smiled; "So how's it feel, going to a public school for the first time?" she inquired.

To be honest, I was nervous as hell, and the butterflies in my stomach just felt like they were giving birth to more every second. I've been tutored by the White Lotus men my whole life, and they thought it wouldn't be safe if I was to go to a public school. "You'll get captured," they said. Psh, I'd love to see anyone try. I don't show the mental nervous wreck I'm going through though.

"I'm pretty excited really! But looks who's talking Ms. Sato, this'll be your second year, am I right?" I replied. Asami looked down a little flushed.

"Yeah, my dad was pretty worried about me, being the daughter of the future machines creator, he thought someone would capture me for ransom," she explained.

"I can protect myself though," she said and she wasn't lying either. She could take on ten people at a time and still win if she wanted; she was the type of girl you wouldn't want to fuck with. But besides that, Asami's really sweet and kind; one of the nicest people I've ever met too. We get along pretty well, even if I do drag her in a couple of crazy situations at times.

"Well, we're here," Asami announced. I looked up and was awestruck by all the big buildings that was just a school. I saw all the random teenagers in groups, laughing and talking freely, others just sitting under trees and reading, and I saw the huge letters on the front of the school. "Republic City High School: Where Everyone is Equal"

Interesting saying. "You coming or what?" Asami asked, already out of the car. "Yeah, just looking. This place is huge!" I observed. Asami laughed at my obvious comment. "Of course it is, it's a school, what did you expect?"

I didn't really think about it to be honest. "I don't know, I just didn't expect this," I replied, still looking around.

We then walked inside and I saw banners and posters slapped on the walls, people opening and shutting their lockers, everyone scattered about across the halls. Maybe high school would be fun after all. I ended up walking astray from Asami, who was basically my guide to everything in the school.

"Come on, we need to get our schedules," she said, pulling me over to a small, cluttered room called the Office. An old woman around the age of 40 frantically looks through papers and writing down numbers for other working in the building. Asami coughs, trying to get her attention. The woman looks up, seeing us.

"Oh! Ms. Sato, hello. How are you?" the woman says, smiling brightly. Asami just replies a little sheepishly

"I'm fine; please don't call me that though. Just Asami is fine. Oh, could we get our schedules for this year..?" she asks. The woman then understands, and opens up a tab on her computer.

"Okay…Asami Sato," she says to herself, typing in her name and then printing out her schedule. "Here you go, sweetie," she says, smiling brightly towards her. "Thank you," Asami responds, then elbows me and gives me a look that says I should ask for mine as well.

"Um, could I get mine too, please?" I awkwardly ask. The woman looks up at me again, and turns toward the computer. "Name please," she asks simply. "Korra Mitsuko," I answer her. She looks up through her glasses at me astonished.

"_The_ avatar Korra?" she asks, doubtfully. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, a little sick of people asking me the same damn thing. "Yes ma'am, that would be me," I replied in the nicest voice I could bring up. She raises an eyebrow at me, very skeptical. Oh, so she didn't believe me?

I saw a cup of water beside her on the desk. On impulse, I waterbended it right out of the cup and into my hand, looking at her to make sure she was paying close attention. Then I made the smallest ball of fire in the hand I was holding the water with, and looked at her as her eyes slowly went wide, watching the water evaporate into thin air in a matter of seconds. I grinned when she looked at me incredulously.

"Oh wow, I'm sorry; I heard the avatar was in town, I just didn't know she'd come to a public school!" she apologized. _"Trust me lady, I wasn't anticipating it either,"_ I thought, planning to get Tenzin back. The lady then handed me a slip of paper that had my classes on it.

"Hope you enjoy yourself this year," the woman said, smiling at me. "Thanks," I replied, turned and was just out the door before someone ran straight into me, knocking me to the ground. Luckily, I didn't drop my slip of paper. _"Yep, this day just keeps getting better,"_ I thought bitterly, rubbing my shoulder discontentedly.

"Oh my goodness, I am so…" a male voice starts but then suddenly stops. I look up to see a tall guy with broad shoulders, a child-like face and bright green eyes filled with apologies, staring at me. I could tell my cheeks burned a little, embarrassed by his preoccupied expression. He then snapped out of it and held a hand out towards me.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, grinning sheepishly. I smiled back, and took his hand. He pulled me off the ground and introduced himself to me. "I'm Bolin." I then realized I needed to do the same. I really need something for ADD.

"Oh, I'm Korra, nice to meet you," I replied, shaking his hand. _"Oh well, at least I'm meeting people now,"_ I thought optimistically.

**A/N: I know, the chapter ended pretty abruptly, sorry, I just didn't want to put too much in one chapter, you know? I'm planning on writing a long story this time… XD Oh well, please review, tell me what you think. Thanks for reading! :) ~~~**


	2. A Different Kind of Morning

**A/N: Hii again! I hope you liked my last chapter; hopefully this one will be good as well :) please enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to the Legend of Korra**

**Mako's POV**

***BEEP BEEP BEEP BE- **the alarm clocks screeches before I slammed my hand down on it, frantically looking for the off button. I finally hit it and looked over to see that Bolin was still snoring as loud as he was before; I exhaled, relieved. I picked up the alarm and saw it was 5:03. I sighed and got up, looking for more "assignments" on my phone.

If you're wondering, I'm Mako, Bolin's older brother. I'm also, very ashamed to say, a part of the Triple Threat Triad. I'm not exactly a big role play in it, but I do take part, guarding, jumping another gang every once in a while. And it's not, in any way, fun either. But they helped me and my brother out when we were on the streets after our parent's death. I had to pay them back somehow.

They recruited me a couple years back, but I forbid them from getting Bolin into anything. They fought me for a while about it, but they soon agreed to keep him out of it; if I did extra work for them. He still doesn't know I'm a part of a gang, and it's hard, hiding this from him. But sometimes, you got to do what you got to do.

I turned my phone on and saw 2 new messages from Shady Shin.

Shady Shin: _"Hey, there's been rumors about the Agni Kai's spreading around lately. Be careful, and if you end up getting in a fight with them, try contacting us somehow."_

Oh, so they actually care about my well-being now? I rolled my eyes and went to the next message.

Shady Shin: _"By the way, be over at the TTT hide out TONIGHT at 12. Boss says we'll be unpacking goods but we need cover. No exceptions either, you have to be there. See you soon."_

I massaged my temples, frustrated. Not only have they sent me off on every mission they could this summer, but their doing it on SCHOOL nights too. Fantastic. I went on and got ready for school; I can't sleep anyway. Even if school does start at 8.

I took a quick shower and got something to wear; a plain red t-shirt, dark blue jeans and black converse. I just put on my shirt on when I turned to see Bolin sitting up on the bed, stretching and yawning. I smiled; "I see sleeping beauty finally woke up," I joked. He threw a pillow in my direction but I dodged it.

"Hey! Everyone needs their beauty sleep!" he retorted, grinning. I rolled my eyes; "Whatever you say bro. You really need to get ready though," I advised. He looked at me like I said something crazy. "But it's only 5:30!" he groaned, pulling the covers over him again. I was starting to become agitated. "C'mon bro, we'll go get breakfast if you do," I said, knowing he'd change his mind.

Bolin sat up abruptly; "On second thought, it _is _the first day of school. I should get ready now," he agreed. I grinned; he went up, took a shower and got ready. We soon got out and were walking towards a near restaurant before he noticed that Bolin was dressing a bit better than normal.

"Someone dressing to impress?" I asked, snickering. Bolin smiled, straightening his shirt a little. "Hey, you never know," he responds, winking. We soon made it in the restaurant, and we ate, but we were almost late for school, due to Bolin flirting with the woman at the cash register.

"You just HAD to flirt with the lady, didn't you?" I huffed at him, as we now _ran_ to school. Bolin looked over at me, trying to give me that "innocent look"; "Sorry Mako," Bolin apologized, grinning abashed. We soon made it to school though, everyone talking to each other, telling each other what they did in the summer, others just meeting their friends. We soon made it inside before Bolin was off to get our schedules. Well, he was supposed to.

All he was doing was gawking at someone in the window next to the office. I shook my head at my brother. "Bro, what the hell are you doing?" Bolin jumps, taken off guard; then he turns to me, pointing in the window. I looked and saw two girls, getting their schedules. But then I saw the dark-skinned girl waterbend the water in the air, and then evaporate it with a small ball of _fire _underneath it. So _she's_ the avatar everyone's been spreading rumors about. I've got to admit, she's pretty damn good looking too, with her very curvy figure and chocolate-like skin…

"_WOAH. Hold the phone Mako, what are you thinking?"_ I asked myself incredulously. Bolin caught me staring at the girl, and grinned at me diabolically. Oh spirits.

"Soooo, which one is it?" he asks, pointing towards the window indiscreetly. I could feel my cheeks flame as he asked. "Neither, I was just shocked to see the avatar is all," I snapped, turning away, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"C'mon bro, just tell me! You need a girlfriend anyways. Who knows, maybe I can hook you up," he says, messing my hair up. "Hey!" I shouted at him. He laughed and started running away before he ran right into the girl. I was about to help before I froze right in my place after seeing this girl. By the spirits above, this girl was beyond gorgeous. She had bright blue eyes that anyone could get lost in, and her figure was just curvaceous.

"Oh my goodness, I am so…" Bolin starts to apologize before he looked at her up close. I didn't have to look at him to tell he was looking her up and down. I rolled my eyes, went up and pushed his back with my foot a little, trying to break him out of his gaze. He soon snapped out of his gaze and held his hand out for his, about to pull her up.

"Sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly. I shook my head at him and went inside the office to get our schedules. I soon got them and went to give Bolin his before glancing at this girl quickly. "Oh! Korra, this is my older brother Mako. He can be an ass most of the time, but he's a cool guy," Bolin taunted, smiling at his brother.

I smacked his shoulder at that comment. "Hey!" I yelled. Korra giggled at us. I grinned, and turned to her.

"So what classes do you have?" I asked curiously. Korra handed her paper over to me, her face bright with a blush. Bolin and I looked at the paper, Korra's eyes looking at us amused.

"Alright! We have three classes together," Bolin said cheerfully. "You, bro?" Bolin questions me. I looked at the paper again and I was surprised. I looked up grinning; "Four classes," I replied. Bolin smiled at me knowingly. Korra just looked down, a little embarrassed by it all.

"That's cool! How about we escort her to her first class, seeing that we all have the same one," he says, looking at Korra questioningly. Korra nodded. "Sure!" And we made our way towards the class~

**A/N: I say that was a pretty good chapter :) Let me know what you thought! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review, and maybe give some suggestions, thanks again for reading! :D**


	3. So Much to Ask

**A/N: HELLO. I really hope you liked my last chapter, Im really sorry about all the grammar mistakes and the confusion _ I kept thinking it was a normal POV but anyways, without further adue, here is the next one :) I must warn you tho, this chapter gets kind of…crazy ;) **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to The Legend of Korra.**

**Korra's POV**

"So, I'm guessing you're new around here?" Bolin asked me. He was pretty cute, I'd have to say. With his muscular stature, his innocent, bright green eyes and his goofy smile, I bet he's pretty popular with the ladies around here. He seems like a nice guy too. I'm not really interested in finding a boyfriend at the moment though, I just _met_ the guy. Damn I'm so awkward. I mentally slap myself.

"Yeah! How'd you know?" I replied, a little surprised. He then started walking around me;

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember you if you did," he said with a flirtatious look. Oh, so he's a flirt is he? I was about to come up with a comeback before I ended up giggling like a little girl. What the hell is wrong with me today? Why am I so nervous? He smiled in satisfaction;

"So, I saw the little trick you pulled with the office lady in there," he claimed. I didn't know what he meant at first but after a few moments, it dawned on me. My eyes went wide for a second; "You did?"

"Yeah, that's pretty amazing though! Having the avatar at our school," Bolin said, but then added a little sullenly; "It's too bad bending is a little bit prohibited around here." Wait, what?

"Hold on, you're saying that there are other benders in this school?" he nodded. "But anyone who's a bender can't bend?"

"Yup, that is correct." He responded. That's the stupidest shit I think I've ever heard. I guess I made a pretty funny expression because he started laughing.

"Yeah, I know, it really sucks. I'm surprised you pulled that off in there actually; usually they'd give you a warning or something. Guess the Avatar's got an advantage huh?" he says, elbowing me. I smiled at him; I like this guy.

"I guess so," I replied, sounding more coy than I wanted to. Damn this day is just getting weirder by the minute. I then turned to see a tall, lean guy that resembled Bolin walk towards us from the office. He handed his brother a slip of paper before glancing at me quickly. I could tell my cheeks were flushing by now. Bolin then pushed me forward a little.

"Oh! Korra, this is my older brother Mako," he introduces. I could tell a little that they were but damn this boy was fine. He had a muscular appearance, pale skin that was absolutely clear and golden amber eyes.

"He can be an ass most of the time, but he's a pretty cool guy," he teased. That's too bad, oh well, maybe he isn't that bad. I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

He then smacked his brother's shoulder playfully; "Hey!" he exclaimed, a little embarrassed. And there I went again; giggling like the nervous wreck I was. If I'm this nervous now, how would I have been if I went to school as a kid? Oh gosh.

"So what classes do you have?" Mako asks me. I snap out of my thoughts and just responded by giving him my paper instead of speaking. Who knows what I would've said next in this state. Then the brothers looked at the paper like they were studying a book for test that was due the next day. I smirked a bit at their concentrated expressions.

"Alright! We have three classes together," Bolin said cheerfully, looking at me...hopefully?

"You bro?" he asks, looking at Mako. Mako looks at it again, and then grins; "Four classes," he responds. I looked down on instinct. I really need to pull myself together. At least I got classes with this guy.

"That's cool! How about we escort her to her first class, seeing that we all have the same one," Bolin says, looking at me questioningly. "Sure!" I automatically respond. Oh well, at least I'm talking now.

We started making our ways towards the class before I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a text from Asami.

Asami: "_Hey! Where the hell are you? I've been looking for you everywhere!"_

I smiled at her comment. She can be so over dramatic sometimes. I text her back _"Calm down, 'Sami. I'm on my way to first period. Where are you at?" _

"A friend of yours?" Bolin questions, seeing me texting. I smile; "Yeah, my friend Asami. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't know where the hell I'm going," I responded sheepishly. They both looked at me dubiously then. I raised an eyebrow at them, confused. "Did I say something?" I asked slowly.

Mako's expression was especially shocked when I said something. I got worried. He then shook his head and continued walking forward. "It's nothing," Mako said bitterly. I looked at him a little baffled. I was about to ask before Bolin grabbed my arm. I looked over at him and he handed me a piece of paper that said

"_I'll explain – text me later 263-7421."_ I nodded and we made our way towards the class again. Asami texted me again and I reached for my phone again.

Asami:_ "Really? You're making it to class without killing someone? Korra, I'm proud of you :'D"_

I rolled my eyes and didn't even bother to text back, seeing that I was now in front of the classroom. I shut my phone off and walked in. I saw everyone scattered about the classroom, talking to each other, some just texting, others reading. I grinned, a little bit excited.

"Okay everyone, sit down, now." A voice says from behind a large desk at the front of the room.

I tried finding a seat, before Bolin pointed to a seat next to him, Mako sitting across from him. I smiled gratefully and sat down quickly, people giving me stares. Why?

"Hello, my name is Lin Beifong, but you will address me as Ms. Beifong and ma'am. There is to be absolutely no talking while I am teaching. And..." she stops, slamming a guy's phone shut with metal bending. That's not fair! Teachers can bend? "No texting or your phone will be taken permanently. Is that clear?" she said very strictly.

"Yes ma'am," everyone said in unison, including me, except I was a bit slow. Are all the teachers like this? Ms. Beifong then ran her eyes over me, examining me like I was a piece of meat.

"I see we have a new student this year. Would you please stand and introduce yourself?" she asked, sounding more like she was demanding me to stand up. I flushed a bit, knowing there would be questions and rumors like crazy going around when she answered her. I sighed, stood up and said in a formal tone,

"My name is Korra Mitsuko. It's great to meet you all," and I bowed. What? Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Everyone then ended up gasping, talking and disapproving once I said something. As for Ms. Beifong, she just looked at me disinterested.

"Ah. So _you're_ the "promising avatar" that's come to the reform the world for better. Well, I'm sorry to say that bending is not allowed in this school, for safety purposes," she says matter-of-factly. I could tell my eyes were starting to twitch at her comment. I was going to counter her but I've been in a strange mood all day and I didn't want to make it worse.

"I know, I've been told," I affirmed, sitting down, looking around to see all the stares. I cringed a bit, shrinking down as if that would help anything. If only Asami was here.

"Well, now that we got that out of the way, let's start," and she began with the math lesson. I tried focusing on taking notes but people were still staring at me. But every now and then, Bolin would give me a reassuring look and I'd feel better for a bit. Although, my face must have been flaming red by the end of class. When the bell rang, I quickly got my things up, shoving them into my bag forcefully and walking out of the room swiftly.

"Look at you, Ms. Popular!" Asami exclaimed, running into me. I gave her a questioning look. She then showed me her phone filled with texts talking about _me_. I flushed at this; "So how'd you get to class so easily?" she asked.

"Hey! You okay, Korra? You looked like you were going to burn in there literally!" Bolin asked jokingly. Mako then came up from behind him, shaking his head at his brother. I turned to see him but when he looked up, his eyes went cold and everything went silent for a moment, well, for us at least. I looked over at Asami; she had an apologetic and nostalgic look in her eyes.

"We should get going," Mako said coldly, passing by Asami without looking at her. She looked over at him again, but she didn't say anything. Bolin just looked down awkwardly. AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO'S COMPLETELY LOST?

I looked at Asami, about to ask her what's wrong before she shook her head, her eyes asking me to not bother. I felt a little sad, seeing her like this. She then looked at me and put on a fake smile.

"Hey, I'm going to my next class, I'll see you later," she said, and walked away swiftly. I was so confused, but I just let it pass and went through the rest of day; Mako having a distant look in his eye and Bolin just trying to start conversation but failing miserably every time.

School soon ended and I started walking towards the exit of school. "See you later Korra!" Bolin shouted at me, waving. I smiled and waved back. Today was an interesting day; kind of confusing though. I'm going to have to drop a bomb of questions on Asami though, something just wasn't right. I wonder what happened between Mako and her. Speaking of the brothers, boy were they a good looking pair. And nice too; I'm kind of skeptical about Mako though, I'm sure things will clear up after a while thought.

I ended up being so caught up in my thoughts that I walked on the wrong side of town and into an alleyway. Great job Korra, now you have no idea where you are. I face palmed myself and turned around to walk to the other side of town before three strange men appeared out of nowhere, standing a few feet in front of me. I awkwardly stood there, shifting my weight back and forth.

"Can I help you guys?" I finally asked slowly. A guy with a strange goatee and a devilish grin walked towards me. Well, he walked right up on me, more like it. I back away a little; I was starting to wonder if this guy knew the definition of the word "personal bubble."

"A better question is, can we help you?" he said, grinning deviously, and grabbing my chin, making me look at him. Oh _hell_ no. I could tell just by looking at them all they had evil intentions. I slapped his hand away and barked at him

"No. You can't." I started walking away before another man stepped in front of me and lit a large flame of fire in his hand. Oh, two can play at that game. I did the same, except this time, I shot it beside his head, just brushing past his ear. While I was grinning at his baffled expression, two of the men came up behind me and trapped my arms behind me, slamming me against the wall. I glared at them, absolutely livid.

"Oh, don't look at me that way, doll," he said grabbing my face again. I was so infuriated, I opened my mouth and instead of a long trail of curses coming out, I spit out straight fire, blow torching his face. I began doing it uncontrollably before they shoved a strange type of fabric in my mouth, stopping me.

"You bitch!" the man screamed at me, his once smug face now black with second degree burns. He then slammed me against the wall again, more forcefully now.

"You're getting it now!" the man screamed at me, starting to feel me up right then and there. I felt many emotions then; not only was I infuriated, I was scared. Which was shocking; but just before he could get anywhere, I saw a foot slam deep into his face, knocking him over to the wall at the end of the alley.

The two men turned and before they could utter a cry, they were knocked to the ground with fierce fires burning them left to right. They soon fell to the ground, screaming frantically. I fell to the ground on my knees, hands falling forward holding me up. I was still shaking a bit, but the feeling I felt the most was pure relief. I looked up to see a hand held out towards me. I saw Mako.

I gasped a bit, flabbergasted. But I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. "Are you alright?" he asked sincere, his golden eyes filled with worry. I looked at him, feeling a bit stubborn; "I'm okay," I said a little sharp.

"What the hell are you doing Mako?" The man with the burnt face screamed at him. Wait, how did these low lives know his name? Mako then glared at them, and put his arm around my shoulder. I gasped a little loud; my face blushing bright as a Tenzin's head when he got angry.

"Better question is, what do YOU think you're doing? Hitting on my girlfriend like that!" HUH? WHAT? I looked at him incredulously and I'm pretty sure my eyes were as wide as saucers right then and there. I was about to punch him before he side-looked at me; moving his lips inaudibly, saying "Play along."

I knew what he was doing was beyond ridiculous, but he did kind of just save me… WAIT, I could've saved myself, I don't owe him anything! While my brain said no, my conscience said yes. So I instinctively cuddled closer to his warm body to convince them. He even smirked a bit when I did. Smug bastard. I stayed quiet though. The man with the burnt face then looked at Mako in disbelief.

"This girl is your girlfriend? Since when?" The man asked, looking at him very skeptically. "Since today," Mako said, smirking. I'm wondering if that smirk is fake. Because I'm pretty certain it isn't. The man then looked at Mako understandingly, smirking a bit as well.

"Ah, I see. I'm so very sorry for this inconvenience, can you forgive me?" Mako then looked at him, his golden eye smoldering with anger. Wow, does this guy know how to act or what!

"I don't know, seeing that I'm one of the bosses most prized members, I don't how he'd feel if I was to tell him that a certain someone hit on my girlfriend. And you know how he is about loyalty," Mako said mischievously, smirking even more crookedly. I had to admit, he looked pretty damn hot too. Wait, why am I thinking like this? The man then had a look of fear in his eyes, and then he looked down, a little peeved that he was trapped.

"What are your terms?" he asked, tone full of defeat. Mako then looked at him seriously;

"Give me a week off and I won't say a word. Plus I'll pay for a healer to fix that mess of a face," I tried to stifle a snicker at that comment. "Deal?"

The man looked a little cross, but he eventually answered him. "Deal."

They then soon walked away, Mako giving them glares as they left, pulling me in closer as they passed, which resulted in me blushing brightly. When they left, Mako pulled away from me, leaving me with a ton of questions to ask. He's a firebender? How did he find me? Why did he help me? Why did he claim me as his girlfriend? But most of all, why is he a part of a gang?

**A/N: END OF THIS CHAPTER. XD Sorry, I really wanted to add more, but there was already so many pages, I didn't want to give out too much T.T I have to give Mako's POV of the story after all ;) I really hope you liked this chapter, (btw, I fixed my grammar a bit, if you noticed :D) please review!~~**


	4. Making Deals

**A/N: Hello people! Oh my goodness, thank you for all of the great reviews! :'D this makes me so happy, thank you! Well, I'm so ecstatic that you liked my last chapter; BTW those of you who read my last story ****Rainbow After the Storm**** the next chapter will be up sometime this week ;) and I'm really sorry for all the confusion in some of my chapters D: I've been trying to convince myself that it's NOT normal POV, so it's confusing XD but anyways~ hope you like this chapter**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Legend of Korra.**

**Mako's POV**

We started making our ways toward the class with Korra. She seemed pretty cool, absolutely gorgeous too. She's a little shy, but I'm sure that'll change in a while. I don't know why but I like her already. And I don't even know anything about this girl. Not where she lives, who her family is, e_specially_ not who her friends are.

"A friend of yours?" Bolin asks her, seeing her texting someone. I wonder if I can get her number. Korra looked up and smiled a bit sheepishly; "Yeah, my friend Asami…" after that statement, I completely zoned out, memories flashing before my eyes. Bolin also was shocked. We never knew that she was friends with her. Don't get me wrong, she's really nice and absolutely beautiful too. It's just too much to explain.

"Did I say something?" Korra said, slowly drawing the words out, a worried expression on her face. I really didn't want to explain anything, not now, not ever. Before she could ask, I shook my head and continued walking forward.

"It's nothing," I replied a little too sharply. Great. Just perfect. Just when I thought I could get away from stupid shit this year. I felt bad that I had sort of ditched Bolin and Korra, but I couldn't get into that right now. Maybe she'll understand or Asami will tell her. But what would she say? I just didn't think about it as I entered the classroom.

I saw we had a new teacher this year. She was a tall, stern looking lady with short curled hair. I wonder what she'll be like. I sat down in a random seat, across from Bolin. Korra looked around a little panicked for a seat. I grinned at her lost expression; Bolin then pointed to a seat beside him. She looked at him gratefully and sat down quickly. I saw people giving her stares already before she even introduced her name; which you can't really blame them, she's a beauty.

"Okay everyone, sit down, now," the lady demanded. Well, isn't she the patient one.

"Hello, my name is Lin Beifong; you will address me as Ms. Beifong and ma'am. There is to be absolutely no talking while I am teaching and…" she paused, slamming a guy's phone shut. Oh that's bull shit! This teacher must obviously not have read the rules, not even the teachers can bend. "No texting in my class or your phone will be taken permanently. Is that clear?" she said sternly.

"Yes ma'am," everyone said in unison, except Korra. I smirked a bit; I then saw the teacher looking at her skeptically.

"I see we have a new student this year. Would you please stand up and introduce yourself?" she asked, sounding really strict. I saw Korra's cheeks redden a bit; she stood up and said

"My name is Korra Mitsuko. It's very nice to meet you all," she said and bowed. Korra Mitsuko. Pretty name. I then heard everyone start to whisper and talk around us, some surprised, some disapproving. Ms. Beifong looked like she really couldn't care less who she was. She raised an eyebrow and looked at her a little prejudice.

"Ah, so _you're_ the "promising avatar" that's come to reform the world for better," she said scornfully. I looked up to see Korra was starting to boil with anger; I don't blame her.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that bending is not allowed in this school, for safety purposes," she explained. Well look who's talking. I could see that Korra was probably going to say the same thing but she didn't.

"I know, I've been told," she assured the teacher and sat down. I could tell she really wished she wasn't there at that moment because everyone wouldn't stop staring at her. She ended up shrinking in her seat little by little as the class went along.

"Well, now that we got that out of the way, let's start," and she began, writing some algebraic terms we learned from last year on the board. Oh fun, review. Korra was just trying her best to focus and take notes, but she just couldn't bring herself to concentrate with all the eyes boring into her. I saw Bolin would try to help every once in a while, but it didn't help her long. Class soon ended, and as soon as it did, Korra shoved her stuff into her bag and literally ran out the door. Poor girl. Bolin seemed to already like her a lot; looking after her like the lovesick sap he was. I grinned at him;

"Someone's already falling hard," I taunted him. He looked at me innocently, his face flushed.

"Am not," he argued. Although, the grin on his face just screamed liar; I just let it go and got my things up. But just as I walked outside the classroom, I froze in my place. I saw Asami standing there talking to Korra about something. I heard everything go silent between the four of us when she saw me. She looked at me apologetically. Although, I know everything wasn't her fault, I couldn't help but feel that it was. I didn't bother talking to her.

"We should get going," I said to Korra and Bolin, brushing past Asami. I felt terrible, having to resort to this. Everything was going just fine before she showed up. But like I said before, I didn't want to explain anything. Ever since then, I became silent throughout the rest of the day, reminiscing on the past. Surprisingly, Korra didn't ask me anything. She'll probably ask Asami about it, oh well.

"See you later Korra!" Bolin shouted at Korra, before she left out the exit of the school. She waved back, glancing a bit at me before she left. I sighed; so much for the first day of school. I walked towards the way "home."

"Soo, I see you're starting to like her as well," Bolin then said, elbowing me. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. How does _he_ see through me? I just gave him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" Bolin laughed;

"Oh come on! It's written all over your face!" he It is? Damn. So much for being inconspicuous.

"Is not," I said stubbornly, looking away. Bolin snickered and let it go;

"Alright bro, I'm gonna go to work, I'll see you tonight," Bolin said, walking towards town. I waved at him;

"Okay, see you later," I replied, starting to walk towards the other side of town. "Hell's Sanctuary" some people would call it. I was just about to head up to my apartment before I heard someone screaming in agony. It isn't really new around here, there's always someone being attacked around here. But it was the familiar voice I heard screaming. That was Shady Shin. I grinned; he probably deserved whatever was coming to him.

"You bitch!" I heard him scream at someone while still crying with pain. Uh oh. This couldn't be good. I quickly ran towards the sound of the screaming. I know I shouldn't get involved but something told me I should. And I'm glad I did too, because when I looked down the alleyway they were in, there were two men holding Korra against a wall, and it seemed that she had burned Shady Shin's face.

"You're getting it now!" he said, and then starting to pull her shirt up. I don't know what happened right then, but all I know is, I was _beyond_ pissed now. I knew Shady Shin was fucked up but I'll be damned if I just stand here and watch him shack this girl up; especially since I know her. I ran in like the idiot I was and slammed my foot into his face deep. And I must have kicked him pretty hard because I could hear his back pop loudly against the graffiti walls at the end of the alleyway. Before his two accomplices could turn around, even before I could _think_ about what I was doing, I shot furious fires at them and I almost couldn't stop. I eventually came to my senses and saw Korra on the ground, eyes wide with fright and breathing heavily. I went over and held a hand out towards her. When she looked up, she looked even more confused, but relieved.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, my voice strangely soft. What is wrong with me? I pulled her up and she brushed herself off, fixing her shirt.

"I'm okay," she said a little irritated. I felt kind of shocked by her annoyed tone, but then again, I can't blame her. She was basically almost molested just now.

"What the hell are you doing Mako?" Shady Shin screamed at me. I almost laughed at his jacked up face, but right now; anger kind of over took me. I then got a really crazy idea that would probably make these guys leave her alone. Although, I know Bolin would be upset and Korra might smack me after I do. But in the circumstances I'm in right now, I didn't have time to think things through. I wrapped my arm around Korra, pulling her in closer to me. This resulted in her looking at me with the biggest blue eyes, her face flushing brighter than ever. I almost smiled at the sight but I had to be convincing. I just prayed she would go along with it.

"Better question is, what do YOU think you're doing? Hitting on my girlfriend like that!" I exclaimed, lying through my teeth. I looked down to see Korra's eyes get impossibly wider. I knew she was about to object right then and there, but I looked at her, trying to be discreet about it and I mouthed "Play along," hoping she caught what I said. Apparently she did because I saw her nod her head in the slightest motion and she moved closer to me, laying her head lightly on my shoulder. And this time, my crazy hormones got to me and I smirked. I could tell I pissed her off, seeing her eyes twitch, but I couldn't help it. Shady Shin looked at me very doubtfully.

"She's your girlfriend? Since when?" He asked in a skeptical tone. Oh crap. I hadn't thought of this part. She did just come to town and all.

"Since today," I replied automatically. Great, my auto-pilot's on. I smirked even more, trying to make it look like we're supposed to sleep together sometime today; and only then would it get through his dirty mind to not mess with her. He grinned and looked at me understandingly.

"Ah, I see. I'm so very sorry for this inconvenience, can you forgive me?" he asked in a fake sincere tone. FORGIVE HIM? I was thinking about sending another flame of fire at that now-destroyed face of his. Instead I glared at him and then had another idea. I grinned deviously.

"I don't know, seeing that I'm one of the bosses most prized members, I don't how he'd feel if I was to tell him that a certain someone hit on my girlfriend. And you know how he is about loyalty." That ought to get to him. That was one of the boss' number one rules. Loyalty. If you broke that, let's just say you'd leave with more than just a broken arm. He was crazy, but this rule may have just saved my life as well as Korra's purity. Shady Shin looked at me knowingly, eyes flinching in fear.

"What are you terms?" he eventually asked, sulking. I then replied in a business-like tone

"Give me a week off and I won't say a word. Plus I'll pay for a healer to fix that mess of a face," I said jeeringly. I felt Korra's body shake a little, trying to hold in her laughter at my comment. I smiled a bit;

"Deal?" Shady Shin glared at me for a while, but then looking down, thinking hard.

"Deal." He eventually answered. Our work was done after that. They all walked past us, but I knew they might pull something tricky. But they didn't; they left without a word.

I then pulled away from Korra, feeling a bit guilty I claimed her as my girlfriend, but I felt even more relieved that she was safe now. I looked at her, and just her eyes had a million questions to ask. I felt so awkward there, standing there in silence, doing nothing but looking at each other. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, but I took a step forward.

"Look, I can expla—" POP. She punched me square in the face, and damn did it hurt. I rubbed my face, making sure everything was still intact. I expected the yelling but hitting? She must be absolutely infuriated.

"What in HELL WERE YOU THINKING? Just strolling in like that, you could've gotten yourself killed! And how dare you claim me as your girlfriend like that! You have some nerve pal!" She literally screamed at me, throwing her hands around. I looked at her, absolutely outraged. Now I was the one infuriated.

"Excuse me? You're the one who probably would've been left for dead if I didn't come in there and help you!" I yelled back, both of us looking like we were about to get into an all-out brawl. She scoffed at me.

"I was fine on my own," she said, folding her arms together against her chest, looking away stubbornly. I laughed darkly at that;

"Yeah, that's why you looked so scared you couldn't move," I countered. She gaped at my comment;

"I was not! I would've done something…" she said, stopping. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Eventually," she finished. I then looked at her, trying to think of a way to go about helping her _without_ her resulting in hitting me again. I sighed and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently. Her cheeks pinked a bit, those big blue eyes looking at me questioningly.

"Korra, while that may be true, do you think you would've felt better afterwards?" I asked honestly. Her eyes went wide; she then looked down, really thinking about my question. We both knew that by the time she did get out of there, she would've been scarred. And even I knew she didn't want that. She jerked away from me, looking away, her arms still crossed.

"I know, I know," she admitted. She turned and pointed at me;

"You still didn't have to help me though!" she yelled. I shook my head and laughed, a little amused. Damn this girl is stubborn.

"I know that. But I did. So can you stop acting so stubborn and accept it?" Korra looked away again; then turning and looking at me with another question in her eyes.

"Why are you a part of them?" she asked quietly. This caught me off guard completely. So she knew. I looked at her a little shocked. But I then looked down, not wanting to see her expression when she tells me I'm a criminal.

"You wouldn't understand…It's not something I signed up for," I explained, rubbing my arm awkwardly. Wait, why am I even telling her this? She surprisingly looked at me understanding, knowing that everyone who was in the Triple Threat Triad was most likely forced into it.

"I'm…so sorry," she said slowly. I'm surprised she's not yelling at me now, telling me I'm the reason they went after her or some made up bull crap like that. I then had another idea, one for her safety, and the other for just the pure enjoyment of it.

"I have a request," I asked earnestly. She looked up;

'Yeah?"

"Please don't tell anyone about this. Me being in a…gang and all. Not even Bolin knows and if he knew, he would be dragged into all the bull shit I have to go through. And I could never forgive myself if that happened," I asked, almost pleading in a way, feeling terrible at thought.

"Okay." She responded. I looked up pretty quickly, surprised by her answer. I smiled gratefully at her.

"Thanks. Now, I have another request," I said, trying my damnest not to smirk because I could feel it coming.

She arched an eyebrow at me, and I could tell she was probably going to beat the crap out of me for what I'm about to say, seeing how her last reaction went.

"Pretend to be my girlfriend for a week."

**A/N: XD I added a bonus part to Mako's POV of Korra's *ahem* situation, just for all the great reviews on my last chapter :D thank you so much for all the support and opinions, I appreciate it so much! Well, I hope you liked this chapter, please review and tell me what you think :) thanks so much for reading! ~**


	5. Decisions

**A/N: Hi guys! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! :D I've read some of your reviews, and I know, Mako acts different at the end of the 4th chapter but HE HAS HIS REASONS. PLEASE KEEP READING AND IT'LL MAKE MORE SENSE! XD I really hope you like this chapter, and here it is~**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Legend of Korra**

**Korra's POV**

"Pretend to be my girlfriend for a week," Mako said smirking like an idiot. This completely caught me off guard. I did NOT expect him to even ask me something like this! Sure, he saved me, I'll admit that. And for that, I'm keeping his secret, right? I looked at him incredulously.

"Hell no! Why would you even ask me something like this?" I asked in disbelief. He walked towards me, his face then becoming very serious.

"Tell me something. Do you care for Bolin?" he asked, purely curious. And to be honest, yeah, I kind of did. I didn't want him to be in the Triple Threat Triad. I've heard that everyone in that gang was eventually scarred for life, and seeing that innocent looking boy in that gang? I couldn't bare it.

"Yeah..?" I replied, trying to understand where he's getting to.

"So, let's say you're keeping this a secret _because_ you care," he said, smirking still. So the whole "pretending" thing is because I owe him for saving me? I grabbed the collar of his shirt and was about to punch him again before I saw something in his eyes. Even though it looks like he's doing this just to be an ass, there's something in those golden eyes that said there's another reason for this. Like…he was trying to protect something. Something besides his brother. I let go of his shirt and looked at him skeptically.

"Tell me something. I have a feeling this isn't just for sick kicks. Even if that is a part of the reason; there's more to this, isn't it?" I asked a little confused. Mako looked at me, eyes going wide with shock, like I saw through him. He sighed and looked down.

"Alright. I do kind of have another reason for this…" he admitted, slowing down. HA! I knew it! I wonder what it is though.

"And?" I asked. He looked down, like he was trying to find the words to say.

"Well, you live at the Air Temple down town, right?" He asks randomly. I raised an eyebrow, sort of confused.

"Yeah," I answered anyway.

"Well, those three guys who attacked you would've probably told the gang what you did and would've come after you again. Eventually, they would find where you live. They would've gone to your house and try to hurt you again. Now, who do you think would be caught in the middle of that?" I gasped at the thought. Pema and the three kids being attacked by gang members and what they would do to them. I became scared and guilty at the thought. They would've been attacked because of _me_. Although now I was scared, I still was confused as to why he wanted me to pretend.

"And seeing that I'm one of the boss' favorites, if you was to pretend to be my girlfriend for at least a week, seeing how long most relationships last anyway, they won't attack you. Even when we "break up" they won't. Plus, I already blackmailed the guys who know anything about this, so they won't say anything. Do you understand now?" he asks, being surprisingly very sincere. So he wasn't doing this just for the fun of it. He's doing this because he cares….

"Why?" I ask, very confused as to why he's doing all this. He then looked up, and I saw his cheeks pink a bit and he turned, his back now facing me.

"Um, because…" he started off. I put my hands on my hips, waiting a little impatiently for his answer.

"Because I've seen way too many people get hurt by us. And I couldn't prevent it," he said, now turning towards me, his eyes distant. "I've seen too many people become terribly hurt, scarred or even die at our hands. And I'm a part of it," he says, clenching his fists and looking down ashamed. I'm absolutely dumbfounded. This whole time, I thought his intentions were completely perverted. Now…

"This time," he said looking up, his golden eyes now aflame with determination.

"I want to prevent any suffering. I don't want to see anybody else get hurt because of me," he explained, slowly walking towards me.

"Do you understand now?" he repeated, sounding a little apologetic. I was still in a state of shock before I answered him, but I eventually came back to earth.

"Yeah. I understand now. That…must be really hard to go through…" I said, trying to think of something to say to all of this. I feel so confused. But all I know is, I admire him for all of this. He turned away again, looking a little tense.

"You have no idea," he responded, his voice filled with hurt. I felt so sorry for him; I almost wanted to hug him. But I guess I can now; seeing that I'm his "girlfriend." WAIT, what am I saying? I didn't say I was going to go through with this! GAH. I'M SO CONFUSED! I just wanted to forget all of this for a second so I went to another subject.

"Umm…I'm sorry I punched you in the face…I didn't break anything, did I?" I asked off the top of my head. What is wrong with me? He's probably still pissed about that! Think before you speak, Korra! I saw he kind of laughed at what I said. He turned towards me again;

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've got to say though, you sure do pack a punch," he commented, laughing and rubbing the side of his face. I laughed a little as well and then realized I still didn't answer his question from the very beginning. I _really_ didn't want to and I had two reasons; one, it seems that he and Asami are having some kind of strange, unspoken argument, and two, that would be just plain awkward. I barely know the guy! But, seeing this side of him… maybe he isn't so bad. Even though he can be sort of an ass at times, Mako's actually…really sweet. I laughed and even smiled a little. Bolin was right after all. Wait a minute, I can't afford to think like this! This girlfriend bull shit is supposed to be for show! Ugh, I guess this means I'm going to do it after all… I sighed. Damn it all.

"I'll do it," I said, agreeing to his plan. He looked up at me with the same shocked expression.

"Y-You will?" he stammered a bit. I smiled a bit; he must be kind of awkward when it comes to stuff like this as well.

"Yeah, I will," I said again, giving him a reassuring look. But then another thing dawned on me. I thought about the physical part that comes in the package of a relationship. I blushed brightly at this part. Oh spirits, I should've thought this through. Where's Master Sokka when you need him? I pointed at Mako;

"This relationship is going to be strictly platonic; I hope you know that!" I said, pointing a little accusingly at him. Mako smiled at me a bit, shaking his head.

"Korra, as much as I know you want it to be, it can't," he said, looking at me a little amused. I almost slapped that look off his face, but I'm a little bit more in control now. When I punched him before, I wasn't thinking straight. I was frustrated, mad, still frightened, stubborn and just…confused. But I still was surprised by his answer.

"Why not?" I said, my voice rising in irritation. He face palmed himself and shook his head again.

"What teenager do you know has a platonic relationship? Hold on, let me rephrase; do you know any gangs who even _believe_ in the word platonic?" He asked, and I stopped and really thought about it. It's true; no one around our age has a super-innocent relationship like that. It would be too suspicious. Damn it, I hate it when I'm wrong.

"I know…" I admitted. I'm so frustrated. To be honest, I've never really been in a relationship before. Sure, maybe some stupid ones when I was a kid, but besides that, no. I don't really know what to do, but talking to Asami and hearing her gossip on the phone all night with her school friends (while trying to sleep I might add) has told me a _lot_. My stomach started to churn at the thought. He then grabbed my hand, and I looked at him a little confused.

"Look, it will be simple things like this," he said, pulling up our now intertwined hands as an example. Although, I could tell by the blush on his face, this was going to be kind of awkward for him too. I felt a little relieved; at least I wasn't the only one.

"Okay?" I smiled a bit, a little grateful. I nodded my head to show I understood.

"Besides, seeing how truculent and aggressive you can be, I don't think it'll be hard. Seeing how most couples argue a lot, you can pass this off easily" he added ridiculing me, smirking again. I punched his shoulder a little hard at his comment.

"Ow!" he yelped, but then started laughing. Wait, I just proved his point, didn't I? Fuck. I looked down a little embarrassed. He grabbed my hand again and I could feel my cheeks heat up again.

"We should get out of here," he said, and he had a point. I didn't want to run into another bad situation. I closed my hand in his and looked away; still feeling awkward by it all.

We soon made it to the front of the Air Temple, a few people from our school giving us stares as we passed them. I turned towards Mako, rubbing my arm a little nervously.

"Um, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school?" I asked stupidly. He looked at me with that same amused expression. But then he did something really unexpected. He pulled me to his chest and hugged me. I blushed brightly at the close contact but I remembered the whole girlfriend thing. I wrapped my arms around him awkwardly.

"See you tomorrow," Mako said longingly, pulling back and smiling at me. This guy has got some mad skills when it comes to acting because I felt myself blush even more. I pulled back and tried smiling a bit, then ran up to the temple and looked back to see him walking his way back home. I walked through the door to see Asami sitting at the small table looking extremely anxious. She jumped up and ran so fast at me, I suddenly got a headache.

"Where were you? I've been looking everywhere for you! I even had people telling me that you went down Haruka Street; a place where EVERYONE knows not to go! What the hell were you thinking?" She yelled, shaking me harshly as well. She's gone Ballistic! She then stopped abruptly and looked down to see the light bruises on my arms where the two men grabbed me. Her eyes went wide with shock and anger. If looks could kill.

"What happened to you?" she asked in a low but deadly voice. Even I shivered at her scary expression. I just told her the first thing that came to my mind.

"I got a boyfriend."

**A/N: XDDD Asami bein' a drama queen. But hey, how would you feel if your best friend just started school and she disappeared afterwards with bruises on her arms? O.o ANYWAYs. XD Does everything make more sense now? I will try to post Mako's POV soon so everything will be crystal clear but for now, just please review this chapter, I hope you liked it; thank you so much for reading! :)**


	6. Suspicion

**A/N: HELLO MY FELLOW PEOPLE :D Sorry for not making this as fast; I've been hanging out over at friend's houses :3 I needed a break. My goodness, you all have so many theories XD it's too bad any one of them could (not necessarily WILL) happen but you'll never know till you read ;) ANYWAYS. I hope you like this chapter :) ~~**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.**

**Mako's POV: **

"Pretend to be my girlfriend for a week," I requested, smirking like the dumbass I am. I smirked not only expecting her response, but her facial expression when she reacts to it. It's so damn adorable, the way she reacts to some things. She looked at me at me like I asked her to flip off a 2,000 foot cliff into the ocean. I had to try my best to not laugh, because I knew if I did, I'd be basically asking for another blow to the face. But seeing her expression right now, she probably already will. She's taking this the wrong way, isn't she?

"Hell no!" I expected something along the lines of that. I smirked even more.

"Why would you even ask me something like that?" Oh crap. She must be thinking of this as equivalent exchange. I save her, she keeps my secret. Now I ask her to _pretend_ to be my girlfriend for reasons unknown to her. Hmm. No wonder she's pissed. I try to think of an excuse…hmm… I walk towards her, making my expression clear and serious.

"Tell me something," I ask stupidly. Great way to start Mako.

"Do you care for Bolin?" I'm going to sound like a complete douche in the next few seconds. But I guess that'll depend on her answer. Oh spirits, help me. She stops and thinks about this for a second.

"Yeah..?" She says slowly, looking quizzically at me. I smiled, amused by her expression. Then I said something I really shouldn't have; because it really didn't sound right.

"So, let's say you're keeping this a secret _because _you care," I say audaciously. My goodness how stupid can I get! She probably thinks I'm asking for this because she "owes" me and for my own perverse amusement. If only she knew I was trying to protect her… But apparently she didn't, because she grabbed the collar of my shirt and looked like she was about to destroy me. Oh well; let's just get it over with. But instead of her pummeling me, she stopped and just looked at me; like she was searching me or something. She then slowly let me down and let go of me. I straightened my shirt out and looked up at her to see a confused expression on her face.

"Tell me something. I have a feeling this isn't just for sick kicks." Hmm. She caught on to that. Smart girl.

"Even if that is a part of the reason;" Oh no, it isn't. Of course, this girl is beautiful and a hell of a lot of fun to tease, I didn't even think she'd strike me as a dirty low-life like that. Oh well, I _am_ from a gang and all, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

"There's more to this, isn't it?" She's a fucking mind reader. I let my emotions get the best of me and let my shock show; which is really stunning because I'm professional at keeping my face clear of emotion and my feelings to myself. Being around gang members and letting them know what you're thinking can be dangerous, so I had to be careful. I could lie straight through my teeth and no one would suspect me if I wanted to. But come to think of it, I haven't hidden any of my real feelings around her like I would with others. How strange. I decided to give in and let her know.

"Alright. I do kind of have another reason for this…" I admitted lamely. Her eyes lit up, a little surprised.

"And?" she asks, expecting an explanation. Oh crap, here we go again. I can't just tell her I did this all because I cared about her safety…can I? I'm too stubborn to do something like that, plus that would just sound even more implausible. I then remembered the news from this morning. They said the Avatar was coming to town to learn airbending … and the only airbenders in the world are… I got it. She must be staying at the Air Temple!

"Well, you live at the Air Temple, right?" I asked. I had to be sure. She looked at me like I asked a ridiculous question.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Well, those three guys who attacked you would've probably told the gang what you did and would've come after you again. Eventually, they would find where you live. They would've gone to your house and try to hurt you again. Now, who do you think would be caught in the middle of that?" There we go. That's a great explanation. She then gasped at the thought and looked down guiltily, knowing she would've been the cause of the pain and suffering of the Airbenders. I didn't mean to make her feel bad. Now I felt kind of bad. I tried helping a bit.

"And seeing that I'm one of the boss' favorites, if you was to pretend to be my girlfriend for at least a week, seeing how long most relationships last anyway, they won't attack you. Even when we "break up" they won't. Plus, I already blackmailed the guys who know anything about this, so they won't say anything. Do you understand now?" I explained and asked her, my voice surprisingly sincere. She looked at me speechless, her eyes full of bewilderment.

"Why?" she asked, looking beyond confused. All these questions, dammit. I felt my cheeks heat up; so much for your usual suave self Mako. I turned away so she wouldn't see and tried to explain.

"Um… because," I started off. How am I going to explain this? Wait, I wanted to protect her from being hurt but why did I go there in the first place? Because I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I didn't want to just stand there and do nothing. I've been taught for years not to interfere and I usually don't. But something really got to me that minute. So I answered her with half of the truth. And something I wish more than anything I could do.

"Because I've seen way too many people get hurt by us," I answered her, turning to face her now, seeing many flashbacks go by my eyes.

"And I couldn't prevent it," I said with disgust at myself.

"I've seen too many people become terribly hurt, scarred or even die at our hands. And I'm a part of it," I said, looking down and feeling absolutely ashamed of myself, my emotions now taking over me. I've seen so many people hurt and I couldn't do one thing about. Since she was sort of my friend, I wanted to help. But not only her. I don't want to stand by and see anyone get hurt again. So just this once…

"This time." I'm not going to let it happen. I'm going to protect her from the Triple Threats. Even if it kills me.

"I want to prevent any suffering. I don't want to see anybody else get hurt because of me," I tell her, walking towards her.

"Do you understand now?" I ask her, and she still looked up at me, with that same shocked expression.

"Yeah. I understand," she eventually answers.

"That…must be really hard to go through," she says. I look at her, seeing her expression full of sympathy. She really had no clue.

"You have no idea," I responded a little rudely; my voice filled with grief. Why? Why am I opening up this much around her? This isn't like me.

"Umm…I'm sorry I punched you in the face…I didn't break anything, did I?" She asked randomly, and in a strange way too. I didn't expect a question like that to come up; of all the things that's happened to her today and all the confusion, she asks about my well-being. I laughed and turned towards her again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've got to say though, you sure do pack a punch," I complimented her, rubbing the side of my face where she hit me, both of us laughing. I saw Korra look out into the distance, like she was contemplating real hard. I saw an amusing, conflicted look on her face and smiled a bit. She then started blushing. If only I could read minds.

"I'll do it," she answered simply. It took me about a second to realize what she said. She's actually going to do it! Wow, and I thought she was more stubborn than me.

"Y-You will?" I stammered a bit. Real smooth, Mako. She smirked a bit at my question.

"Yeah, I will," she repeated, giving me a reassuring look. Man, did she have the most amazing blue eyes ever. I smiled at her before she started blushing real brightly. Then she pointed at me.

"This relationship is going to be strictly platonic! I hope you know that!" Oh goodness, this is going to take a while. I shook my head and smiled.

"Korra, as much as I know you want it to be, it can't," I said, and it was true. No one has a relationship that innocent. But she seemed determined for it to be. I'm going to be kind of awkward about it too, but I'm going to have to do it if we want it to be convincing. She looked at me very irritated.

"Why not?" she demanded, her voice rising. Here we go again. I face palmed and shook my head again.

"What teenager do you know has a platonic relationship? Hold on, let me rephrase; do you know any gangs who even believe in the word platonic?" I asked her, and her face went completely blank. She stopped and really thought about it.

"I know…" she said, looking down really embarrassed, twiddling her thumbs around. I can tell this will be an interesting week already. I smiled and grabbed her hand, gently intertwining my fingers in hers. She looked up at me and blushed even more.

"Look, it will be simple things like this," I reassured, gesturing towards our now connected hands. Although I was the one trying to help her feel better, just grabbing her hand made my cheeks heat up a little. I just have to be modest huh. Damn.

"Okay?" I asked her. She looked up and nodded her head. I then got another encouraging statement; and even if it was kind of sarcastic, it was true.

"Besides, seeing how truculent and aggressive you can be, I don't think it'll be hard. Seeing how most couples argue a lot, you can pass this off easily," I said, teasing her and smirking even more. She gaped at me and punched my shoulder, only not as hard as she did before. It still hurt though.

"Ow!" I shouted but then realized she kind of just ran right into that. She just made my statement even more true. I laughed even more and I think she realized it too because she looked down at the ground embarrassed. I looked up at the now yellow-orange sky and realized we should probably get out of here. This street gets even worse at night. I grabbed her hand and she looked up at me questioningly.

"We should get out of here," I said. She nodded and closed her hand in mine; which kind of shocked me. But she looked away again, and we walked towards the Air Temple. I also gave her my phone number on the way, because one; we're "together" and two; she probably has a hell of a lot more questions to ask. A few people stared at us from school, but I didn't really care. We soon made it to the front of the Air Temple and Korra turned towards me, rubbing her arm a little awkwardly.

"Um, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school?" she asked, her voice a bit shaky. I smiled and pulled her in to my chest. Poor girl. She must be really awkward about this. But then again, I am too. I hugged her for a bit, and at first she was frozen at my touch, but she eventually wrapped her arms around me. I tried making myself look convincing for the small crowd of people walking about the sidewalks on the street. I pulled back and looked at her "passionately."

"See you tomorrow," I said, trying to sound "hopelessly-in-love" like those random guys would on those really cheesy shows Bolin watches sometimes. And apparently it worked because I saw Korra's eyes go wide again and her cheeks start to burn red. Damn. This might be easy after all. I smiled at her once more before she ran up towards the temple and left. I smiled and walked towards home again, thinking about the week ahead before I heard my phone go off in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a text from the one person I could really beat the living shit out of right now. Shady Shin.

Shady Shin: _"Hey there Mako. I'm glad you finally got yourself a girlfriend. Never knew you had it in you."_

What's he up to?

I texted back; "_Yeah yeah, whatever. She's one hell of a looker huh?" _

Like I said, I got to be convincing. A few minutes later, he texted back.

Shady Shin: _"Hell yeah, I'm surprised you went off on me like that though."_

I wanted to hurt him right then. He has the nerve to act like we're still friends.

I texted back again; "_Well, I didn't want the girl pregnant now. XD" _

I shouldn't even have to act like I'm kidding. But if he knew that I truly cared about this girl, I could get into real trouble. Once again, he texted back.

Shady Shin: _"Ah true. Anyways, be sure to be over at the hideout tonight."_

WHAT?

"_We had an agreement!" _I texted back, really pissed.

He texted back a minute later.

Shady Shin: _"Calm down lover boy, it's just a little discussion we're having tonight. No work. Come on! It'll be fun!" _

I was about to curse him out before he sent a text the very second I clicked the button to text back.

Shady Shin: _"It's about your dear little girlfriend. I think you'll find it very…interesting."_

I stopped walking completely. Oh no. Korra.

**A/N: CLIFF HANGER XD not really~ I hope you liked this chapter :) even if it was kind of the same thing as last time, it showed Mako's POV, which should clear some of the confusion you guys have :D Thanks so much for reading! :) please review!**


	7. The Attack

**A/N: Hello again :) I'm so glad you guys liked my last chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, it took me a while to decide how everything was going to happen… and I was watching Shane Dawson's older videos…he's awesome XD BTW I'm sorry about the cliff hanger and all, but I won't be posting anything about that until next chapter…Sorry T.T but I have to give Korra's POV once more. PLEASE forgive me and read this chapter :) I hope you like it~~**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing :3**

**Korra's POV**

"You got…what?" Asami asked confused, now letting go of my arms. Damn does she have a grip! I rubbed my arms where she had grabbed them and I looked up, trying to think of an answer to her question. I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Um, yeah. That's what happened," I said, sounding extremely improbable. She looked at me very skeptically. I can tell by now that I was going to get one hell of a lecture after I tell her all of this. Oh gosh, how would she react to my "boyfriend" being Mako? I just pray that Aang's spirit is here to protect me from the impact of her reaction to that.

"Korra. I meant explain the bruises, silly. Although, I would love to hear about that later," she said, trying to calm herself down. I tried thinking of a way to explain this to her without her flipping the fuck out again. I couldn't just say "Hey Asami, I'm going out with a gang member so all of my friends and family don't get attacked." She'd _explode_. I sighed and prepared myself. But I had to get her to calm down completely before I told her about all of the recent events.

"Alright, I can explain, but before I do, you're going to have to chill. Ok?" I told her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. I smiled at her.

"I'm fine, so calm down," I added. It took her a while but she eventually nodded and sat on the couch. I sat beside her and tried to tell her as little as I could about Mako being a gang member. I prepared half of the truth. I breathed in real deep and began; with one piece at a time.

"Well, I _did_ go down Haruka Street first off," I admitted slowly. She was about to say something before I added really quickly;

"Of course, I didn't mean to, I was just thinking a lot and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Asami raised an eyebrow at me, not really believing me. This is going to be a long day.

"Honestly, I really didn't know," I repeated, and she just shrugged and sat back again, letting me go on.

"Well, when I realized that I wasn't on the right side of town again, I turned and tried to go back before these three men came out of nowhere and…" I said, slowing to a stop because I knew this is probably where the bombs are going to drop. She looked at me incredulously and she sat up alarmed.

"Did they do anything to you?" she demanded, grabbing my arm again. I looked down and saw a flashback of that specific event go past my eyes again. It was really scary for me. I had _never_ been in a situation like that. The city must really be dangerous. I'm very grateful that Mako came though, even if I did flip out on him at first.

"No, they didn't. I promise you Asami, they didn't," I said, trying to convince her before she got any wild assumptions. But she already did because she stood up and looked like she was about to attack somebody. Let the explosions commence.

"Then explain the bruises on your arms, Korra! Who were the guys that did this to you? I'll find them and-" she started to scream at me before I jerked her back down on the couch. I grabbed both of her shoulders and made her look at me.

"I. Am. _Fine_." I said slowly, trying to get it through her thick, now clouded skull. She slowly calmed down and began breathing regularly. I went back to where I left off.

"They had some bad intentions, I'll admit that. But they didn't do anything to me. They were _going _to but then someone came in and saved me…" I explained, stopping again to wait for her reaction. She looked at me relieved, now relaxing.

"Thank goodness. I'm glad you didn't get hurt too bad. So who saved you?" She asked, purely interested. At least she's calm now. I smiled, relieved as well. I wonder how she's going to take this part though…

"Mako Tamotsu," I said dragging the words out slowly, because I knew she and Mako were already having some kind of problem already; I wonder how she'll react to this. But instead of her immediately assuming things, she stops and looks at me blankly. But then I see a concentrated look her eyes, like she's putting pieces of a puzzle together. Then her eyes go wide with a bunch of emotions mixed together and she stands up and looks at me like she's about to attack someone again. Except this time, it was more deadly. I shivered.

"NO! NO NO NO!" She started shouting at me. What did I do this time? I stood up and put my hands on my hips, wondering what kind of bull shit she came up with this time.

"What is it, Asami?" I asked, worried. I thought she was going to scream at me again, but instead, she says in a very calm tone;

"Korra, I know what you're going to say. Mako saved you from the bad guys. You were impressed by his "bravado" so you asked him out and he said yes." Wow. I didn't even have to make up a story. Kind of cheesy but thanks Asami. Before I could respond,

"But you can't! You can't do that, Korra. He's not the kind of guy you want to be with, he comes from a dangerous place and…and…" Uh oh. She started looking down at the ground and I could see that same look that she had when she looked at Mako earlier today. Her eyes were filled with sadness, nostalgia and apologies. Wait…I think I get it now.

"You used to go out with Mako." I said, not even bothering to ask about that very conspicuous detail. I could just tell they must've had a really close connection a long time ago, Mako and Asami. I guess she didn't think I'd find out because she looked up, shocked that I found out. But she nodded slightly, looking down again. Oh no, Asami…

"Why didn't you tell me today?" I asked, very baffled. She kept her head down.

"Because I didn't think it would matter. But now, it really does. Korra, you can't date him…I don't know how to tell you this but…he's a part of the Triple Threat Triad." Holy shit, she knows! I looked at her in disbelief.

"You…know?" I said slowly. Now she jerked her head up to look at me, shocked again. Before she could ask any more questions, I heard her phone beep in her pocket. We both gasped at the sound, being used to the familiar quietness of the Air Temple. She pulled it out and looked at it and grabbed her bag slowly.

"Hey, my mom's worried sick about me not being at home by now, I got to go. We" she said pointing at me and back to herself.

"Are going to have a serious conversation tonight about all of this." She said before leaving out the front door. I was about to go after her outside with many questions before I saw a familiar figure far outside my window. I stopped and looked down to see Bolin earthbending a gate up from a tunnel across the street where the water goes down on rainy days. He looks beside him both ways then going inside quickly, shutting the gate as well. I didn't want Asami wrapped up in the trouble I was probably going to get into, so I waited until she left until I went after him. I soon made it down to the front of the tunnel and looked to see if anyone was around. Once the coast was clear, I earthbent the gate up and back down like Bolin did once I got inside. I turned around to see nothing but to see the darkness of the tunnel. I lit up a fire in my hand and was going to keep walking before I saw another figure in the tunnel looking back at me. That must've been Bolin! He turned around and ran away quickly.

"Hey!" I shouted after him, now running. I eventually made it close enough towards him to pounce on them. He yelled and fell to the ground under me. I lit up another fire to see Bolin looking up at me, very surprised.

"Bolin?" I asked very confused as to why he would come down here. He looked up confused as well, trying to get up. He laughed a bit though, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Hey Korra, what brings you down here?" He asked, as we both got up off the wet floors of the tunnel.

"I could ask the same thing," I replied with a grin, raising an eyebrow at him, expecting an explanation. He looked at me and smiled sheepishly.

"Well…can you keep a secret?" he asked quietly, even though I'm pretty sure there's no one near where we're at…is there?

"Yeah!" I replied. It's not like I have enough secrets to keep already. Oh, wait. He smiled at me and grabbed my hand.

"Follow me then," he instructed, pulling me along with him. We walked down the tunnel in silence until we got to an end. We saw four other tunnels ahead of us, and we went down the first one on the right.

"So…where exactly are we going?" I asked, dying with curiosity. He saw this and laughed a bit, winking at me.

"Like I said before, it's a secret. I'll tell you when we get there," he promised, smiling. Before long, we made it to the end of the tunnel to see a bunch of people crowded around a large body of water surrounding a large fighting ring in the center of the spacious room. I looked at everything in awe. It was like a secret underground Probending arena! Bolin seemed amused by my expression, looking at everything.

"This," he said, running his hand in the air, gesturing to all everything.

"Is like a Probending Arena. Except here, the people here are a _lot_ more talented, in my opinion. Of course, most of them are from gangs, and they gamble a lot…" he said again, smiling shamefaced. I never imagined Bolin would be in anything like this. I'm surprised.

"Why would you be down here when you can watch a real Probending match? You could get hurt or jumped by one of these crazies, can't you?" I said, almost whispering towards Bolin. He blinked a few times at me, a little startled by my question. He laughed more and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Haha, I know. But as you know, Probending matches cost a lot of money, and well, I don't exactly have that kind of cash. Plus there's a strict rule around here preventing any fights outside the ones in the ring. So we'll be fine," he affirmed. But that wasn't the only thing that was bothering me. The gambling; I'm sure the people fighting (who're most likely in a gang) would be pretty pissed when they lost and would attack the other outside of these matches. I know, it sounds petty but pretty legit when it comes to them.

"I fight in these every once in a while. Most of the time, I just watch. But when I do fight, I never really take the money," he explained. So he's a bender? Should've guessed, I mean, his brother is a bender as well. But I asked anyways.

"So, I'm assuming you're a bender?" I asked, looking at him curiously. He smirked a little deviously beside me. Oh spirits. I then felt the floor suddenly elevate on the heel my right foot; I fell forward and tripped straight into Bolin's muscular chest, him catching my shoulders to keep me from "falling." That little shit. He really is a flirt, huh? I smiled though, pulled back quickly and blushed a bit.

"Um, I-I'm guessing you're a-an earthbender," I stammered. Dammit Korra, you're doing it again. He grinned, pleased by my reaction. Him and Mako, they just_ love_ to fuck with me. Yup, they're brothers alright. Bolin then pointed at his chest, which was now buffing up with pride.

"That's right! I'd say I'm pretty good myself too," he commended on himself. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest.

"Is that so? We should spar sometime then! I'd love to see what you got," I requested, smiling a little. His green eyes lit up with excitement.

"That'd be awesome! But seeing that you're the, well," suddenly become very quiet and whispered

"the avatar and all, I don't think it'd be a fair challenge," he said in his normal voice again. I put my hands on my hips in disapproval. I play fair!

"Oh come on! I'll only use water bending then, if that makes things fair," I assured him. I really did wonder how good of a bender he was. Maybe this'll be fun. He looked at me skeptically, then smiled brightly and grabbed my hand once again.

"Let's go then!" Wait, what? He started pulling me through the large crowd of people, me stumbling along with him.

"What are you doing?" I tried to yell over the shouts and cheers of the people. He laughed loudly and kept pulling me past the many people towards the ring. Wait, we're going to fight right now? At this place?

"You'll see," he said, winking at me again. He pulled me upstairs and inside a room separate from the big crowd and ring, and walked up to a man who seemed to be in charge of all the fights. Bolin talked to him for a bit and made some agreements with the man and soon, he towed me over and I saw a tall man with a strange beard.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" the man said, looking me up and down slowly. I had the strongest temptation to knock the shit out of this guy. But I didn't want to get Bolin into any trouble, so I just clenched my fists at my side and ignored this guy's wandering eyes.

"Ko-" Bolin elbowed me and coughed, giving me a look that said I really shouldn't say my name. Oh! I forgot; they can't know I'm the avatar.

"Ko- Kotori, I'm a waterbender" I answered a little uncertainly. The man looked at me a little doubtfully but he just shrugged and went back to his co-workers. We walked back outside and Bolin shook his head at me.

"Korra, you've got to be careful, you can't let people like this know you're the avatar around here," he warned me. Woops. I honestly wasn't really thinking about that. Oh well, I guess I'll only be bending water this time. I can do it. I then heard a voice coming out of the large speakers above our heads.

"Now next up, the one and only Bolin; the flirtatious earthbender!" Bolin looked up and blushed brightly, shocked by the name they gave him. The co-workers died with laughter up on the 2nd floor; they must know Bolin well. I giggled a bit as well. I _never _giggle. I must be really damn excited.

"Versus, the lovely waterbender Kotori!" the announcer said in a grand tone. I blushed a bit at the name. I then heard a few people walk toward us, giving us a helmet and some body armor. And seeing that the fight was only 3 minutes a match, we just put it on over our clothes. Then Bolin nodded his head towards the elevator that lead to the tall arena, motioning for me to follow him. I smiled and walked with him towards the small looking elevator. As we both went up in the air, I heard the people below us cheering and shouting again. I just smiled and looked down the whole time.

"Hey," Bolin said, nudging me. I looked over and saw his hand held out towards me.

"May the best man, or lady, win. And no harsh feelings afterwards" he said, smiling at me. I smiled back, took his hand and shook it.

"Alright," I agreed. We soon made it to the top and we stepped onto the platform that brought us closer to the large arena. I saw that the arena looked like almost like a replica of the real thing. The people here must have a lot of money to make something as secret as this authentic. We soon made it to the arena and we went to our spots; waiting for the announcer to start the match. I got prepared; fists up front, and becoming very aware. I am a water bender and ONLY a water bender. I have to keep saying that so I don't screw up and accidently firebend him off the platform. I breathed in and out slowly, getting ready.

"Are you ready?" a man on a tall platform above the ring calls out through a microphone. We nod and he blows the whistle. Let the fight begin. Before I could bend water up and out, Bolin already had two earth disks flying right at me. I quickly dodged each of them before bending water out of the narrow vents beneath me and sent it flying at his upper torso. He dodged it as well as he threw three more all heading straight at me, doing a few rigorous moves as he did so. Damn, he's not bad at all.

I flipped up into the air, avoiding each of the disks and bent water up with me and kicked it fiercely at the next two disks he fired at me. The rapid speed of the water broke the two disks in half, while I bent more water into my hands and shot it fervently towards him. Bolin noticed this and panicked; I smirked a bit. He narrowly escaped my attack before spinning and hurling another storm of earth disks my way. I flipped a few times, evading each one just barely. I bended another sufficient amount of water in my hands, having to try my damnest to hold onto it while dodging each of his attacks. I then got a really clever idea; while he was launching those disks at me, I flipped over and held myself up with both hands as two disks passed by me briskly, and whirled myself around quickly, using my feet to send the water soaring hastily at him. I flipped back up to see him lying on the ground two zones away, two earth disks laying fruitlessly at his sides. Haha! I _can_ do this only using water!

"Woohoo!" I yelled, laughing and jumping in the air exhilarated. Man, it's been so long since I've been in a real fight! Being with Tenzin, he's always telling me to relax and not fight, because air is peaceful. But I've told him a million times; _I'm_ not peaceful. I looked around to see many cheering people around me, all whooping and calling. I then heard the whistle go off.

"Knock out! Round one goes to," he stops, looking at a paper in his hand,

"Kotori!" he exclaims, and I see Bolin is now up, his eyes wide with surprise. I grinned at him and crossed my arms a little smug. Who did he think he was dealing with? I'm the avatar! He smiled back and then pulled his arms in, hands now balled into fists. I did the same, adjusting my stance to prepare myself for the next round.

But before we could continue the fight, I heard the screams become more…urgent; like they were in pain. I got out of my stance and looked over to see an array of lightning going around the crowd. Wait, that can't be right… I then saw a bunch of black suited people with strange yellow-green goggles and sword-like tasers, shocking people in the crowd. What is this? I thought there were no fights outside the ring! But, this looked more like a…war. I looked around to see the ninja-like people putting up a large poster saying "The Revelation." What the…hell? Is this another gang? Before I could think, I heard a familiar voice cry out in pain close to me. I saw one of the strange people electrify Bolin with the large tasers and start to carry him away. No!

"Bolin!" I cried out stupidly. He was now lying on the ground unconscious. I ran towards him before two other black cloaked men jumped in front of me, those tasers radiating with electricity. They both tried jabbing me, but I sprung into the air, running towards Bolin. The two men ran swiftly after me. I knocked the shit out of this guy's head and he fell to the ground. I then grabbed Bolin's arms and flung him over my back. Man, was he heavy! I ran as fast as my feet would carry me towards the end of the spacious fighting arena and saw a long rope with a small platform on it a few feet away.

I heaved myself (along with Bolin) towards the rope recklessly, and I just barely grabbed it before seeing the two strangers jump after me. And without thinking, I used one hand to bend a large flame of fire behind me to push myself towards the exit. But before I knew it, I was escalading towards a banister on the second floor. I ended up almost hitting it, so I stopped bending the fire behind me. But then I looked up to see a man that looked almost the same as the ninja's; except this man had a hood and a mask. But what really got to me was this man's penetrating eyes; even in the shadows of his hood, I felt them boring through my skin. And I swear, I could just barely hear this man say

"I'm coming for you," just before I fell back away from the banister. I became dazed for a second by what he said but I quickly realized the situation I was in, and saw all the tasers blaring fiercely below me. I then got an idea and bent all the water below the arena around me and made it swarm the floor beneath me as I quickly propelled us towards the tunnel we first entered. I soon saw the light at the end of the tunnel and earthbent the gate up and back down as I passed through it.

I dropped Bolin carelessly to the ground so I could actually breathe. Oh shit, those men could be coming after us any second! I summoned the water into my hands hurriedly and enveloped the gate with it; freezing at least 3 inches of water onto the gate. That should hold them. I picked Bolin up again and hauled our asses out of there before they could find us. I ran at least three blocks before I dropped to the ground, exhausted.

"Ugh," I heard Bolin groan and turn uncomfortably on the ground. Oh shut up, you didn't do anything to be groaning! I prodded him with my foot a little ruff. He suddenly jerked himself up so fast, I'm sure he got whiplash. He looked around him, freaked out. He turned to me and saw me breathing heavily from the long run. He looked so confused, he looked like a little five year old, his green eyes wide with wonder; it was almost adorable.

"What – How – " he tried to ask. I grinned widely at his flustered expression. It took him a minute, but I waited, trying my best not to laugh.

"What happened?" He asked, extremely weirded out. I saw a flashback of the recent events and there was one thing I was stuck on. The man with the mask…Who was he? And why is he coming after me? And most of all; why do I feel like those sinister, piercing eyes are still boring into my back?

**A/N: Holy shit that was a long ass chapter! XD oh gosh guys, IF YOU'RE CONFUSED ABOUT THE SETTINGS OF THIS CHAPTER, READ THIS! 1. The tunnel that Bolin went in (in this chapter) is similar to the tunnel that Lin, Mako, Asami, Bolin and Tenzin first went in to find Korra in episode 9. 2. The arena looked a lot like the Probending Arena, except darker and looked like Hiroshi's underground lair. Okay, that's all :) I'm sorry for my amateur writing skills when it comes to fighting scenes ;_; please forgive me. I REALLY hope you like this chapter; I spent a long time on it :P Thanks for reading! Please review; let me know what you think :)**


	8. The New Target

**A/N: HELLO :D thanks for reading and reviewing my last chapter everyone! This chapter should keep you from slipping off teh cliff of suspense…XD I'm so weird. Oh, unfortunately, this might be the last one I post for the next week :/ I'll be over at a family member's house and I don't get to get on the computer as much over there, so I really hope you enjoy this one~~**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE LEGEND OF KORRA OR THE MUSIC LYRICS**

**Mako's POV:**

Korra… No no no, this is bad. This is really bad. Shady Shin comes up with some really sick plots; I can only wonder what he's got planned this time. There's no telling, because I know for certain he didn't tell the boss about his nefarious little attempt on Korra today. He'd get the shit beat out of him for that. I had the strongest temptation to run over to the hideout now, but that would only confirm his suspicions of me caring for Korra. Then I would be playing right into his hands. And I couldn't let myself do that; he would only exploit that weakness. Damn it all! What have gotten myself into? No, more importantly, what have I gotten _her_ into? She doesn't deserve to be brought into this. What am I going to do? Before I could contemplate any longer, I got another text from Shady Shin.

Shady Shin: "_I'll see you tonight, lover boy."_

I gripped the phone in pure anger and glared at it as if he was actually there. Smug asshole, he just _knows_ I'll come. He knows me too well. I knew I should've quit the gang when I had a chance… of course, I probably wouldn't have been able to, even back then. I just shook my head, as if that would shake away the relentless thoughts. I kept walking towards home, trying to focus on something besides the "interesting" discussion tonight. But before I knew it, I bumped right into someone, stumbling back a few times. I was already irritated and I was about to yell at them before I saw the familiar long black hair and big, bright green eyes. Oh dear god no.

"M- Mako?" Asami asked a little startled. Please. I've had enough today. I just brushed myself off and tried to keep my cool.

"Hey," I said, sounding very indifferent. Why me? Before I could come up with something else to say, I saw her tense up and walk right up on me, her eyes narrowing, trying to intimidate me. At least, I think that's what she's trying to do. I've gotten used to her antics by now, so I didn't back down. I looked down at her questioningly.

"I know you're with Korra now." She stated plainly. I kept looking at her with the same questioning expression.

"And?" I asked simply, a little irritated. Her eyes grew even more threatening.

"I don't know what sick game you're trying to play with her, but I swear Mako, if you do anything to hurt her—"

I grabbed her shoulders, looking at her very seriously. How strange. Everyone today thinks I'm starting trouble, but in reality, I'm the one that's trying to keep peace and protect everyone.

"Asami, nothing is going to happen to her. I promise you that. If you can't trust me on anything else, you can trust me on this," I promised her. And I wasn't lying either. I meant every word. She looked up at me astonished, obviously not expecting me to promise her this. But she went back to her glare and pulled away.

"Good," she replied simply, crossing her arms over her chest. That's one of the things that bugged me about Asami. She's too presumptuous.

"Why? It's not like you to get together with someone on the first day you met them," she stated matter-of-factly, looking at me skeptically. Somehow, my shock got through my usually guarded barriers and I let it show. She had a point. How am I going to explain this… wait, I don't have to explain anything to her!

"Um, w- well," I began stuttering at first. Mako, speak ENGLISH. NOW. I shook my head, wondering why in hell I'm making an excuse up for her.

"That doesn't concern you!" I replied sharply, hands at my sides. Her eyes grew even more piercing and she passed by me briskly.

"Fine then," she muttered under her breath. That was a pleasant visit. I sighed real deep and went about my way. This isn't any of her business. Even if I am her best friend's "boyfriend", she shouldn't pry. I really need to get my head out of the clouds because before I knew it, I bumped into another person on the street. Mako, get your head together. I looked up, very surprised to see Korra and Bolin in second-hand Probending Uniforms. I looked at them very confused. Korra blushed lightly under her dark skin.

"H-Hey Mako, what brings you here?" she asks a little baffled. I grinned at her, strangely enough. Seeing that she's the reason I'm flipping out so much, seeing her flustered expression pushed the dark clouds away from my mind momentarily.

"I think I could ask the same thing," my grin widening. I looked beside Korra to see Bolin raising a confused eyebrow at me, arms crossing. Oh yeah, I didn't tell him that I'm with Korra yet. Shit. He isn't going to like it when I tell him either. Oh well. I coughed a little awkwardly, clearing my face of any emotion from before. I then noticed. _Second-Probending Uniforms. _No. I walked towards Bolin, furious.

"Bolin! Didn't I tell you to not go to those fights anymore? More importantly, didn't I tell you to not take part in them?" I yelled at him. Bolin flinched, and went behind Korra, looking at me behind her shoulders like a little kid who stole candy from a store. Korra looked behind her, smirking at Bolin's child-like expression. I, for one, have seen that expression way too many times to be affected by it. I pinched the bridge of my nose, more than agitated by now.

"Listen Mako, I can explain. I was only going to watch at first, I promise, but then Korra came and we went in and—" he started babbling before he stopped abruptly, catching my glare.

"I don't want to hear it," I snapped at him, continuing to glare at him before I realized _Korra_ was with him when they went. Oh no. This is even worse.

"Wait, you brought Korra with you?" I yelled at him, absolutely enraged. Bolin cringed even more behind Korra. Oh this is great! Now all the gangs from every fucking triad will know she's the avatar. Now everyone will be after her. This day can NOT get worse. I just had to say that, didn't I? Korra walked up towards me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Calm down, crazy. He didn't bring me anywhere, I went with him. I saw him going down there and I followed, don't blame him," she asked politely. Even though she was trying to calm me down, I became a little more irritated that she went with him in the first place.

"Korra, did you know that there were a bunch of gangs down there?" I asked her. She nodded her head.

"Yeah, Bolin told me when we went down there," she explained simply. I glared at Bolin quickly before continuing.

"Okay then, since you're the avatar, shouldn't you know that it's dangerous to be near them? Did they find out you're the avatar?" I asked her urgently. She was about to answer me before stopping suddenly and looking down a little sheepishly, fiddling with her fingers.

"Well…" she started uncertainly. GREAT! They know! This has just got to be the best day of my life! I began laughing hysterically and throwing my arms around.

"This is just fucking perfect! Nothing could make this day better!" I began yelling uncontrollably. I'm losing it. I'm honestly losing it. Korra looked at me very worried. She went up and grabbed my hand, which immediately brought me out of my hysterics. I could feel my cheeks heat up.

"Mako, calm down, it'll be alright. I don't think they noticed," she said, giving me a reassuring look. Even though she was trying her best to help me, I laughed darkly at that. Don't think they noticed my ass. I looked at her incredulously, about to say anything else that came off the top of my head.

"What I mean is, well…" she looked to Bolin for help. I went out of my state of hysterics completely to try and understand what they were going to say next. Bolin walked up, his expression strangely becoming serious.

"The arena was attacked. Every gang, even some of the civilians got tasered by these strange ninjas. Before I could do anything, two of them came up to me and got me too…" he said, stopping for a moment as I saw his eyes go distant, looking at scene again. Korra then finished where he left off.

"They started putting up large posters saying "The Revelation" maybe that's what they called themselves, I don't know. But anyways, Bolin got attacked and just before they could get me, I ran up and got Bolin out of there. But…" she stopped, looking at a memory of her own. I grabbed her arms, urgently needing to know what happened to her. She looked up, her eyes widening with shock, but she continued.

"There was this man…as I was getting out of there, I ran into this guy who looked like the leader of the whole attack. But I swear just as I passed this guy, I could just barely hear him telling me…" she stopped again, starting to shudder.

"Telling you what, Korra?" I asked her hastily.

"Telling me…"I'm coming for you," she whispered, her blue eyes becoming dark with anxiety. Korra… she must be beyond nervous by now. I felt so sorry for her. But she shook it off and continued.

"They knew I was the avatar was because I used firebending to get out of there when the attack started. And just before I got out of there, the supposed leader saw as well and told me…well, that. I'm sure the other gangs couldn't see because most of them were wiped out by that time. But it seems that I'm the new target for these guys…I don't think they're a gang though. I've never seen them around or heard of them for that matter," she explained.

I relaxed a little, relieved that she wouldn't be attacked by the enemies. Even so, _I_ haven't even heard of these guys before. I'll have to tell the Triple Threats about this. Maybe this could distract them from the plot Shady Shin came up with tonight. Wait, this IS perfect then! Maybe whatever crazy plot Shady Shin had today will be overlooked by this. I sighed, feeling like some of the weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I need to find out just who or what "The Revelation" is though.

Wait, why am I doing this? I promised to protect Korra from the Triple Threats but not from any other kind of danger. Oh well, as long as she's okay… Mako, stop it. Stop it right now. You can't care for Korra. There can't be any strings attached in this limited relationship between you and this girl. You'll only be hurting yourself, just like you did last time… I pushed that thought from my mind and just tried to cherish what happiness I have right now.

"Alright. I'm just glad you guys are okay," I said relieved. I even actually smiled for real too. Korra looked at me a little startled by my sudden change of attitude. But she relaxed as well, her eyes becoming illuminate again. Bolin then walked up with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"So you forgive me?" he asked innocently, giving me puppy dog eyes. I rolled my eyes and chuckled at his overused trick. I let it go anyways.

"Sure," I replied. Bolin exhaled, relieved. Crazy.

"Thank goodness! I thought I was going to have to use Korra as a shield," he joked, elbowing Korra. Korra rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Well, if Mako _was_ going to attack, I would've moved a long time ago," she admitted. Bolin's mouth gaped at her. We both laughed at his incredulous expression. Wow, it's been forever since I've been laid back like this. It feels great.

"So what are you doing tonight?" Korra asked out of nowhere. Well, I guess I was going over to the hide out, according to Shady Shin. I just pray I'd have the strength to contain myself when I see him tonight. But of course, I couldn't say anything like that in front of Bolin.

"Well, I'm going to a meeting with the boss tonight actually," I answered, shrugging like it was nothing. Bolin shook his head at me.

"Did you get in trouble at work again, bro?" he joked, messing with my hair again. I pushed him away, grinning at him. I put on a fake sheepish grin and replied.

"Yeah, it'll be a while before I get back tonight." Although, Korra gave me the same expression I had when I found out I had to go anyways. A look of confusion and anger. She grabbed my hand and jerked me away from Bolin forcefully. She eventually dragged me far enough to where Bolin couldn't hear out conversation and let go. She turned to me expectantly. I sighed and decided to play dumb.

"Yes?" I asked innocently. I saw her become frustrated as she put her hands on her hips.

"You know what. Why are you going there tonight? I thought you and that asswipe had an agreement," she said with a questioning look. Oh trust me, I was mad too. How am I going to tell Korra that the whole discussion is about her? I'm not going to. She has too much on her plate already.

"We did. He said it was just a little discussion we're having tonight. No work or anything," I assured her. She looked at me very skeptically. Then pulled her arms against her chest tightly, looking down.

"It's about me, isn't it?" she asked, her tone emanating with guilt. My eyes widened in shock. How in hell does she read right through me like that? She's more perceptive than Bolin. I look at her closely, and I saw that she was very distressed. Why?

"Yeah, it is," I admitted plainly. I walked towards her and pulled her chin up to where I could see her face clearly. Her once sky blue eyes are dark with anguish and anxiety.

"What's wrong?" I asked alarmed. She looked away.

"If I had just beat the guys up myself, you wouldn't be in this mess…" she murmured, her tone filled with guilt. WHAT? This isn't her fault! I grabbed her by both of her shoulders and made her look at me again.

"Korra, this is, in no way, your fault! You couldn't help it! When you're in a situation like that, you're going to freak out so much to where you can't move. Its human nature, Korra, please don't think like that," I implored her. Wow, this is _really_ odd. I don't think I've ever been this understanding. But then again, it is true. I would think any girl would be frozen out of fright in that kind of situation. She looked back at me, surprised. But her eyes went cold and she pulled away stubbornly.

"But I'm the _avatar_! I shouldn't freak out so much by something like that!" she yelled, but she sounded more like she was trying to convincing herself. I sighed again and smiled. I went up to her again and made her look at me once more.

"Korra, everyone is human; even the avatar. Listen, it's not your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I'm the one who came in and made the flames catch fire," I said, blaming myself. And it was the truth. If I hadn't gone in there and saved her, it would've only been another story Shady Shin bragged about to the gang. But then again, how would've Korra went about her life after that? I think she had the same thought because she looked at me in disbelief.

"If it wasn't for you, I would've been molested or "left for dead!" she said, repeating my words from earlier. She had a point.

"Yeah, you're right," I agreed. But you know, I don't regret saving her. Not one bit. Even if it has caused me trouble, it's better than standing by and doing nothing. Even if I did somewhat made her pretend to be mine for a week. I smirked again, remembering how she reacted to that. Korra caught me smirking and looked at me a little irritated.

"What's so funny?" she snapped at me. I couldn't help but snicker a little. I put a hand on her head, deciding to mess with her a little bit.

"Nothing, just thinking. Not everything has to deal with you, you know," I said, laughing a bit more. She blinked a few times, and looked away, embarrassed.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," she muttered. I grinned at her. She is so fun to mess with. I then thought about how she still has to pretend this whole week and felt kind of sorry. She'll probably detest me by the end of the week, assuming that she doesn't detest me now.

"Look, I'm sorry that you have to pretend and all…" I apologized a little awkwardly, hoping she wouldn't hit me again for being ignorant enough to bring it up again. She looked up at me again, and instead of glaring at me, she smiled sincerely at me.

"You might want to shut up before you get hit again," she threatened playfully and punched my shoulder lightly. Wow. So there _is _a side to her that isn't completely violent. I laughed at her joking threat.

"You did save me after all, so I guess I can put up with an uptight ass like you for a week," she taunted me. But she had a meaning behind the name calling. She really did feel grateful that I saved her. I rolled my eyes at the name and just ignored it.

"Well, I'm sure you probably have a ton of homework like the rest of us, so you should probably get home and finish it," I advised her. It's funny. Even at the beginning of the school year, they want drop a bunch of random nonsense on they called homework. Korra stopped, her eyes looking up in realization. I could tell she's completely forgotten that she even _had_ homework. I grinned; she's never been to a public school, so it's only to be expected.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed and I turned to start walking towards Bolin. I just walked a few steps before I felt her grabbing my forearm and tugging me back towards her again. I looked at my arm and at her, giving her a questioning look.

"Hey, try not burn that guy's face again tonight. Even if he does deserve it," she asked, grinning; although, I nodded my head at her seriously, because I'm going to have to try my best not to do it. Then I saw her cheeks redden again as she whispered

"And be careful too, alright?" She looked up at me, her blue eyes filled with worry. She… she does care for me. And for some reason, I felt happy by that little fact. I smiled at her and put my hand on hers, trying to ease her worry.

"I'll be fine," I reassured, winking at her. This rewarded me with a bright blush out of her and she looked down again. I have no idea why, but she really does bring out another side of me. A side of me that I never knew I had. But I didn't mind it. We turned and were going to walk towards Bolin before we saw him on the other side of the street, talking to some girl from our school. I shook my head and turned to see Korra laughing.

"Well, I guess I'm going back home. I'll… see you tomorrow," she said awkwardly, and waved at me. I smiled and waved back.

"See ya," I replied as she walked away. I smiled, actually feeling a bit happy. Even if she is stubborn as a rock and is easily provoked, she really is sweet, caring girl. I laughed to myself, actually feeling content for once. As I walked towards home again, and I felt the black clouds crowding my mind, making my once cheerful mood vanish. I never did like this town. I don't think I'll ever be able to leave though. I sighed and walked up the stairs of the neglected apartment with heavy feet. I fumbled with the keys, looking for the one that opened the door. I soon found it and opened the door, closing it as I went in.

I flopped onto the couch and groaned into the fabric of it, worn out from the day. I really didn't feel like doing homework or going to the hide out or anything for that matter. I wanted to disappear into the thin air, leave without a trace so that stupid gang would never find me. I just wanted to sleep and never wake up.

I've even tried resorting to pills once, a few years back. But as soon as I opened the bottle, my brother came through the door, with that same smiling face that always turned my day around, no matter how bad it could've been. I realized then I had a reason for living. I wasn't put here on this god-forsaken earth for nothing. I'm here to protect my little brother, and that reason only has kept me from trying any drug or pill. I have to be here for him, no matter what, because I'm all he has. And he's all I got.

I looked at the small clock on the wall and saw it was 6:32. I groaned again before pulling myself up from the couch and dug into my bag, looking for the crap load of homework. I rummaged through the bag to find my MP3. Music; it's the second thing that's kept me from going insane. I flipped through the familiar songs to one of my very favorites; Vanishing by A Perfect Circle. I've been listening to them for years and they never get old. Surprisingly, they help me focus on my work too. I turned on the song and got to work.

The song started out slow and in whispers as it always has, suddenly making me yawn. Dammit, wake up Mako! I went over to the coffee brewer and poured a few cups of water into the brewer. I threw in a few spoonfuls of the grained coffee beans into the paper and shoved the container into the brewer again, pressing the button to turn it on. I leaned my back against the counter, waiting for the coffee, and closing my eyes as I listened to music.

"_Disappear_

_Disappear_

_Thinner_

_Thinner_

_Into the air"_

Oh, how many times I've heard these same lyrics over and over, yearning for the same thing to happen to me. Of course, it's referring to drug use, but I honestly wish this could actually happen to me. Just disappear into thin air, without a care, not being able to look back or regret anything because I would solely disappear. I know it sounds absolutely selfish, but I truly wanted this.

"_Never really here_

_Wasn't ever_

_Like a thought brushing up against a…sigh"_

I laughed mirthlessly. As if anything like this could ever really happen. I should stop listening to this before I go crazy. I didn't stop it though. A Perfect Circle has never failed to entrance me to the very end of every song, no matter how strange or dark it may be. I let the music flow through, surprisingly calming me down from all the craziness of the day. The song soon ended and I looked over to see the coffee finished. I poured it in a random cup I pulled out of the small cupboard and sipped it stupidly. I scalded my lips red, drinking the stuff. I sighed tiredly and brought the coffee over to the small table in front of the couch to finish the homework.

I was half way through before I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a text from Shady Shin again. What the fuck else does he want from me?

Shady Shin: _"Discussion's canceled, there's been an ambush. You know that underground Probending Arena down across from Toshiaki St.?"_

Oh shit. I didn't think about how some of our own members could've been captured; but he texted back soon enough, telling me the exact same thing.

Shady Shin: _"There was a big attack there today. They captured a big group of our gang too. It looks like there's going to be an all-out war soon too. We tried looking but they vanished as soon as we got there. Just keep your eyes open for them." _

For some strange reason, I became very relieved by the news. No discussions tonight. As for our captured members, there isn't much I can do about that, seeing how they're all gone. I know we'll find them soon though. We always do. But this does seem pretty serious…there's never been a gang that's wiped out that many people in one place. I then realized something and my breath caught in my throat. Korra said the leader of this "gang" was after her right? That means, the whole war, will be revolved around her. She'll be the new target of every gang in Republic City.

**A/N: The song I used in this story was Vanished by A Perfect Circle. I don't own it. Just saying. AND IM SORRRY. Bunches of cursing in this one O.o But I'm sure anyone who's pissed curses in their mind soo…XD I know some of you are disappointed by not being able to hear Shady Shin's discussion topic but I promise you that will come up in the later chapters! I'm sorry that this chapter was so long; I just wanted to give more of an insight on Mako and to be honest, I kind of liked it :) BTW, I DO NOT OWN A PERFECT CIRCLE OR THEIR LYRICS! I just thought the song would be a good add-in. I love APC, such an awesome band 3 I hope you all liked this chapter; this will probably be the last one I post until next week. Thanks so much for reading! Please Review! :D**


	9. Clearing Up Confusion

**A/N: *Screams in Sokka's voice* SNEAK ATTACK RAHHHHH! XD I made a quick chappie before I left~ Gosh guys, thank you SO MUCH for all the great reviews! Although, the reviews that don't really say anything about the story doesn't count and repetitive random ones don't either for the challenge I posted, so I guess I'm around 114 reviews XD I'm sorry :/ **

**I think this chapter will make up for disappointing you with the last one not being an actual chapter xD Anyways, I'm glad you're liking my story so much tho! :D Well, there probably isn't much that's going to happen in this chapter, except maybe clear up what happened between Mako and Asami! I hope you like this chapter :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING**

**Korra's POV:**

"Earth to Korra!" I snapped out of my daze to see Bolin trying to shake me out of my deep contemplation.

"You alright, Korra?" he asked, his big green eyes filled with concern. I smiled vaguely. I'm still kind of weirded out by the whole attack. Who the men were or what they wanted with me_._ But of course, I _am_ the avatar, so I shouldn't be surprised. I know some people loathe me but jeez, a whole attack? They must have some serious issues.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reassured him a little improbably. He looked at me skeptically but then got up, pulling me up as well. He looked at me expectantly, crossing his arms together.

"So what happened out there? All I saw was a bunch of people being tasered then ZAP! I got tasered too!" I tried to explain but there are so many thoughts crowding my mind, I can't even think straight.

"Well, basically it's exactly what you said. A bunch of people got tasered," I explained simply, repeating his words. His expression grew more confused.

"But who were those guys? And how did you get out of there? Who's the leader and what does h-" he started bombarding me with questions before I put up a hand, signing for him to stop.

"I can't explain everything, Bolin! One question at a time please!" I asked quickly before he could ask any more questions. He really is like a little kid, it's adorable. I smiled and tried to put pieces of events together in a logical order. After a while, I finally got it together.

"Well, the whole place was attacked by a bunch of psychos. You know that already," I started off slowly. Bolin nodded, listening close.

"Well, I don't know who they are. That's the answer to your first question. I'm the one that got us out of there, don't ask how, just be thankful I got your ass out of there," Bolin grinning sheepishly as I said that.

"As for the leader…" I slowed to a stop, looking at the flashback once more… he's coming for me, huh? I don't know why but every time I think about him, it gives me shivers.

"I don't exactly know who he is, but I know what he looks like," I said, answering his last question. He looked at me worriedly. He put a hand on my shoulder, looking at me earnestly.

"Did he do anything to you, Korra?" he asked, very concerned. I smiled and shook my head.

"No, he didn't. He sure is creepy though," I admitted to him. I don't know why but I can't stop thinking about him… it's like I'm…scared or something. But of course, I'm not! I don't have any reason to be scared.

"I bet," Bolin commented.

"You know, I don't know why but just as I was going past the guy, he-" I started to say before I bumped into someone on the street and fell back on my butt bone with a thump. And damn did it hurt! I cursed silently and looked up to see Mako above me, looking down at me confused. I felt myself blush lightly, remembering our previous conversation and what our supposed "status" is. Dammit hormones, stop screwing me over! I just ignored that detail.

"H-Hey Mako, what brings you here?" Spirits, I'm a fucking idiot. He didn't come here just to see us, he has a life. Someone help me. I looked up again to see Mako grinning down at me condescendingly. I immediately became irritated. I just know he's going to make a sarcastic comment.

"I think I could ask the same thing," he replies, that stupid grin widening across his face. Yup. I was right. I muttered under my breath as I pulled myself up. I looked over at Bolin to see him looking at Bolin questioningly. Oh! He doesn't know we're going out yet. I felt kind of guilty, not telling him this the whole time I was with him. Oh well. Mako coughed a little bit, trying to break the awkward silence. Then I see his eyes run over us, noticing our Probending Uniforms. Oh crap. He walked up to Bolin, those amber orbs firing up with fury.

"Bolin! Didn't I tell you to not go to those fights anymore? More importantly, didn't I tell you to not take part in them?" Mako yelled, scolding his brother. Bolin crept up behind me like a little child who got scolded by their mother. I looked over, amused by his child-like expression. I can see how he can get away with everything, he's so cute!

Although, it seemed that Mako had seen his expression too many times because he pinched the bridge of his nose, looking agitated. I smirked, seeing his frustrated expression.

"Listen Mako, I can explain. I was only going to watch at first, I promise, but then Korra came and we went in and—" Bolin tried to explain recklessly before he looked to see Mako's fierce glare. He must be scared that some of the Triple Threats might be there and tell Bolin about him. I guess I can understand why he's freaking out so much now.

"I don't want to hear it," Mako snapped at Bolin abruptly. Damn. I see _someone_ has a Kangaroo-Rabbit shoved up their ass deep. But just when I thought he couldn't get any angrier, his eyes grew more wild and walked towards Bolin like he was going to attack him with fire any second.

"Wait, you brought Korra with you?" he yelled louder than before. Why is he worried about me? I can protect myself; plus I kept my identity a secret. Oh wait… I ignored that fact for a bit to try and calm down Mako before his head exploded. I went up to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He's helped me a lot so far, I should at least try to calm him down. I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Calm down, crazy. He didn't bring me anywhere, I went with him. I saw him going down there and I followed, don't blame him," I asked in a very calm tone. Wow. I'm surprised I'm being patient. He's doing something weird to me and I don't know whether I like it or not. Mako looked like he was a little more in control but he became stubborn and looked at me, those amber eyes still aflame.

"Korra, did you know that there were a bunch of gangs down there?" he asked curiously. Honestly, I had not a freaking clue _what_ was down there when I followed Bolin down there. But eventually, Bolin told me there were, so I nodded my head, saying yes.

"Yeah, Bolin told me when we went down there," I explained. Mako glanced at Bolin once more, giving him a quick glare before returning his eyes to me.

"Okay then, since you're the avatar, shouldn't you know that it's dangerous to be near them? Did they find out that you are the avatar?" he asked suddenly. Why does he care? He said he'd only help me out with the TTT. Not other gangs. Could he actually care about _me_ all together? I felt my heart beat faster at the ludicrous thought. I immediately pushed that thought out of my mind and just fiddled with my fingers, trying to answer in a way that wouldn't result in him exploding.

"Well," I started, but when I looked up, I became very silent as I saw Mako's amber eyes light up impossibly brighter than hell as his body tensed up like he was about to hurt someone. _Bad. _Then he did something I didn't expect. He began laughing like a lunatic and threw his arms around.

"This is just fucking perfect! Nothing could make this day better!" he exclaimed. I felt a pang of pity go through me. He already has a brother to protect from a bunch of secrets, working in a gang he detests, plus he's sort of helping me, he has a lot on his mind. Poor guy. I went up and grabbed his hand on impulse, squeezing it gently to get his attention. He suddenly snapped out of his hysterical laughter and whipped his head around to me, looking at me confused and his pale cheeks easily turning pink. I wanted to help him, honestly; I felt sorry for him and he's done so much for me. The least I can do is be here for him. I smiled a bit at him.

"Mako, calm down, it'll be alright. I don't think they noticed," I assured him. I saw his eyes go soft for a split second, before they grew hard again. He pulled away and laughed darkly, looking at me in disbelief. I'm going to have to explain to him, huh? I sighed and looked towards Bolin.

"What I mean is, well…" I saw Bolin nod and walk cautiously towards Mako.

"The arena was attacked. Every gang, even some of the civilians got tasered by these strange ninjas. Before I could do anything, two of them came up to me and got me too…" he started to explain before he got caught up in a flashback of his. I tried to finish where he left off.

"They started putting up large posters saying "The Revelation" maybe that's what they called themselves, I don't know. But anyways, Bolin got attacked and just before they could get me, I ran up and got Bolin out of there. But…" I stopped, looking at a flashback of my own.

"_I'm coming for you,"_

I shivered again, remembering his sinister voice. I then felt someone grab my arms suddenly and I looked up at Mako, looking at me warily. I tried to ignore the sharp pain on my arms where the two men had grabbed my roughly and continued.

"There was this man…as I was getting out of there, I ran into this guy who looked like the leader of the whole attack. But I swear just as I passed this guy, I could just barely hear him telling me…" I stopped again. Korra, get your head together girl! Before I could continue, I saw Mako's head move down to my eye level; his eyes filled with concern.

"Telling you what?" he asked hurriedly. Does he…actually care for me? No, he can't. He's only doing this to keep peace for him. This isn't about me. I tried to convince myself, but I couldn't shake away that feeling. I ignored it as I replied to his question.

"Telling me…"I'm coming for you," I whispered, feeling my nerves start to become restlessly paranoid. I tried to shake it off and continue.

"They knew I was the avatar was because I used firebending to get out of there when the attack started. And just before I got out of there, the supposed leader saw as well and told me…well, that. I'm sure the other gangs couldn't see because most of them were wiped out by that time. But it seems that I'm the new target for these guys…I don't think they're a gang though. I've never seen them around or heard of them for that matter," I explained, giving my thoughts on them. I saw Mako's shoulder's relax a little, his eyes becoming less intimidating. At least he's calm now.

"Alright. I'm just glad you guys are okay," he exhaled, relieved. He actually smiled then and I had to say, he looked pretty good looking too. I smiled back, glad that he's better now. Then I heard a cautious Bolin walk slowly towards Mako, his eyes pleading.

"So you forgive me?" he asked, his eyes cuter than a puppy's. I snickered a bit. Mako rolled his eyes and laughed lightly at his antics.

"Sure," he said, trying to sound exasperated. Then Bolin walked up next to me and gave me a teasing look.

"Thank goodness! I thought I was going to have to use Korra as a shield," he teased, elbowing me lightly. I rolled my eyes. As if.

"Well, if Mako _was_ going to attack, I would've moved a long time ago," I admitted, laughing at his expression. Mako laughed along at his incredulous expression. Wow, he's actually laid back when he wants to be. Go figure. To be honest, I liked this side of him. I needed to stop with these thoughts, so I asked a random question.

"So what are you doing tonight?" Oh wow, Korra. Great question. Mako thought about it for a split second before he answered.

"Well, I'm going to a meeting with the boss tonight actually," he answered, shrugging like it was nothing. It took me a moment to understand what he really meant. WHAT? I thought he didn't have to go! Unless… unless the man actually did tell the gang about me. I felt my blood run cold, shivering as I thought about it. But of course, Mako acted like it was nothing. I knew better though.

"Did you get in trouble at work again, bro?" Bolin teased, messing up Mako's hair. Mako grinned sheepishly, but his eyes weren't playful.

"Yeah, it'll be a while before I get back tonight," he explained, lying through his teeth. I focused on his eyes and saw behind the front he was putting up, he was absolutely miserable; having to lie to his brother all the time about where he goes and what he does. I felt so terrible for him, but I was still kind of confused as to why he has to go over there again tonight.

I went over to him and grabbed his hand, jerking him away from Bolin on impulse, pulling him to a small secluded area of the street. I eventually let him go and turned to him, expecting an explanation or something out of him. He sighed and I saw that smart alecky look in his eyes again. Oh god.

"Yes?" he asked innocently. He's playing dumb. How cute. NOT. I placed my hands on my hips, frustrated.

"You know what. Why are you going there tonight? I thought you and that asswipe had an agreement," I asked, giving him a questioning look. He looked at me for a bit, like he was deciding what he should say. Is he hiding something?

"We did. He said it was just a little discussion we're having tonight. No work or anything," he said, assuring me. But I had a feeling he was lying. I feel like this is much more than a discussion…I shivered again as I wrapped my arms around me, looking down. If only I was paying attention…

"It's about me, isn't me?" I asked, not really feeling the need to ask though because as soon as I said it, Mako looked at me in disbelief; like I saw through him or something. It's all my fault. If I had just snapped out of their grasp before he came in, he wouldn't be burdened with what should be _my_ problem.

"Yeah, it is," he admitted dully. I knew it… damn it all. I know he regrets ever meeting me now. Before I could blame myself any longer, I felt a warm and tender hand lifting my head up, and I saw Mako looking at me worriedly, those amber flames now dying down to a candle light.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his tone sounding alarmed. I looked away, not wanting to look into his eyes again; knowing he's mad at me for causing him all of this.

"If I had just beaten the guys up myself, you wouldn't be in this mess…" I murmured, my tone filled with guilt. He suddenly grabbed the tops of my shoulders. I kept my head down, expecting the worst.

"Korra, this is, in no way, your fault!" Wait, what? My head shot up, eye wide with shock.

"You couldn't help it! When you're in a situation like that, you're going to freak out so much to where you can't move. Its human nature, Korra, please don't think like that," he pleaded. I didn't think he'd ever be this…understanding. And although this made me feel the slightest bit better, I still felt like this was my fault. I could've prevented it if I wanted to, I'm the avatar for god's sakes! I pulled away from him abruptly.

"But I'm the avatar! I shouldn't freak out so much by something like that!" I yelled, not directly at him, more like to myself… I could've done it… I would've had to. I heard him sigh and move towards me again, lifting my chin up towards him. This time, his eyes were soft and sincere and I felt my breath catch in my throat at the sight.

"Korra, everyone is human; even the avatar. Listen, it's not your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I'm the one who came in and made the flames catch fire," he said, blaming himself. WHY IN HELL IS HE BLAMING HIMSELF? I looked at him is disbelief.

"If it wasn't for you, I would've been molested or "left for dead!" I exclaimed, mimicking his words from earlier.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. At least he realized that. I saw him go into a world of his own for a bit, then that same ridiculing smirk flew across his face. I became irritated again, only wondering what he's thinking.

"What's so funny?" I snapped a little harshly at him. He snickered and laid a taunting hand on my head. Oh he is just _asking_ for another blow to the face.

"Nothing, just thinking. Not everything has to deal with you, you know," he pointed out. He did have a point. I looked down, a little embarrassed. But even looking down, I could just feel his grin grow wider.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," I muttered under my breath.

"Look, I'm sorry that you have to pretend and all…" he apologized, sounding a bit nervous as he said it. I looked at him, seeing he was actually being real this time. I smiled at him brightly.

"You might want to shut up before you get hit again," I threatened him playfully, punching his shoulder gently so I don't bruise him again. I think the least I can do it try not to severely injure him. He laughed, smiling back at me. Then I came up with something pretty catty to say.

"You did save me after all, so I guess I can put up with an uptight ass like you for a week," I said, taunting him. I at least expected a smart comment but he just rolled his eyes and ignored it. Smart boy. I grinned even more.

"Well, I'm sure you probably have a ton of homework like the rest of us, so you should probably get home and finish it," he advised me. Woops. I had completely forgotten I even had homework. I think he caught that too, because he grinning condescendingly at me again. Oh well.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I eventually agreed, even if I really didn't want to do it… maybe I'll bribe Asami to do it. Haha, fat chance. Well, Mako turned to walk back towards Bolin but I needed to tell him something important before he left. I rashly grabbed his arm, which caused him to look at me questioningly.

"Hey, try not to burn that guy's face again tonight. Even if he does deserve it," I cautioned, grinning as I remembered it. Mako, although, nodded his head seriously. He obviously has a bone to pick with this guy. Just when he was about to pull back, I tried swallowing my pride to tell him something else…

"And…be careful too, alright?" I whispered shyly. I looked down, waiting for that stupid sarcastic remark to escape his mouth any second now. But instead, I felt his hand cover mine. I looked up at him to see him smiling at me.

"I'll be fine," he assured, and for some reason, I believed him this time. Then he winked at me, and seeing how stupid my hormones are, I could feel myself blush brightly. I looked away quickly, turning to walk back to where Bolin was before seeing him across the street, talking to some random girl from school. I laughed and turned to Mako.

"Well, I guess I'm going back home. I'll… see you tomorrow," I said a bit awkwardly. I need to get with the program, for real. I waved at him as I left and he waved back, smiling again.

Dammit, I hate to say it, but I actually think I'm starting to like this guy… I can't though. He obviously doesn't really like me… or does he… GRAH! CONFUSION! I massaged the temples on my head, trying to calm myself down. I soon made it back to the Air Temple, seeing Tenzin just coming out of his Red Chevy Corvette. He saw me just walking up the steps of the temple and gave me a questioning look. I just waved him off, feeling absolutely exhausted from the day.

I shuffled inside the once quiet house and saw Ikki jumping around Pema, Jinora reading a book, and Meelo spinning around on the _ceiling_ on an air ball. I really wasn't in the mood for all of the racket so I whistled really loud. They all stopped and looked at me, except for Meelo, who was complaining since he fell to the ground from the ceiling.

"Kids. Sit down. Now," I growled at them. They immediately sat at the small table while Pema cooked dinner. I opened the small sliding door towards my room, fixing to just go to bed.

"Korra, aren't you going to eat dinner?" Pema called to me.

"No, I'm not very hungry." I replied. The butterflies are filling up my stomach too much for me to eat. Pema just shrugged and went back to cooking. I trudged in my room and collapsed onto the bed. I rolled over to see the white ceiling, all of the day's events passing before my eyes like a projector onto the ceiling. I sluggishly pulled off my clothes, slipping into a pair of gym shorts and a plain tank top, then flopping back onto the bed. I groaned into it, absolutely exhausted from the day. Just when I thought I was going to sleep, I felt my phone vibrate on my bed beside me. I groaned again as I turned tiredly to see who it is. It was actually three texts; one from Asami, Bolin and Mako. I clicked on Asami's first.

Asami: _"Hey! Sorry for flipping out on you today :/"_

I smiled. She's so crazy. I clicked onto the next message.

Bolin: _"Hey Korra! I'm so sorry I dragged you into all that craziness today..):"_

I grinned at his apology. To be honest, it was kind of exciting. Well, not the whole everyone-being-shocked thing but just being able to fight! It was great! I went onto the last message.

Mako: _"Hey Korra."_

I laughed for some stupid reason. I text him back first;

"_Nice to talk to you too lol," _I replied sarcastically.

To Bolin and Asami; _"It's aight :)"_

Mako texted back first;

Mako; _"Lol, whatever. So, you got any more questions to bombard me with?"_

Oh wow, he can read my mind.

"_Yeah, actually. What the hell happened between you and Asami? I know yall used to go out but what happened to you two?" _I asked curiously.

In a few minutes, Mako texted back;

Mako:_ "It's…too complicated to explain. Why don't you ask Asami?" _

Hahaha. If I did, she'd probably talk about that for the next few hours and Spirits knows all I want to do is _sleep._

"_Because she would overly exaggerate everything. No offense, but I think you'd probably explain it more properly :P" _I replied. I soon got a text from Asami;

Asami: _"I really am tho :/ Korra, did you ever do your homework?"_

Oh shit. I forgot. I dropped onto the bed again. I really didn't feel like doing anything. But then again, Tenzin would be all sorts of mad at me if I don't pass my classes with good grades, plus that asshole Tarlokk will come prowling around again and gossiping to the paparazzi. He was a councilman and surprisingly, the principle of Republic City High. I already abhorred him, so I really didn't want to find a reason to go to the office. I groaned again before jerking my bag onto the bed, pulling the work out randomly, skimming over it all. Too much for a first day, I'd say. I then remembered Asami and texted back;

"_Nope, just started," _I admitted to her. Just as I was going to read the first chapter of History, I heard my phone go off again. It was from Mako.

Mako: _"Alright. Well, yeah, we we're going out before, but..it just all kind of went downhill once the Triple Threats found out. They tried robbing the Sato Mansion and their products, so Asami's dad called the Police and the Police towed like almost half of the Triple Threats to jail. _

_I told her I couldn't be with her afterwards, because they would've gone after her like they tried to go after you today if I stayed with her. I had to beg the hell out of the Boss not to do anything to her and eventually, they complied. Although, I don't think they could get her if they tried, seeing how much security they have down there now. I just thought it would be safe for her and me if we broke up. I know it isn't her fault but every time those asses blame me for something, they bring that up and I think of her… I know it isn't her fault tho. It's all mine. I should've known better than to go out with the daughter of Future Industries.."_

Oh no… I felt my stomach drop. I felt absolutely terrible for them both. I texted back real fast;

"_Oh my gosh Mako…I had no idea…I'm so sorry! ):"_

He texted back the next minute;

Mako: _"Yeah, it's alright though. So far, I've done well in avoiding her. I know that's really low, even for me, but I can't get afford to get close to her. It would only hurt her worse. I've told her this many times, but she's convinced we can still make it work. I feel terrible every time I have to turn her down but, I don't know what else to do…"_

I'm really glad I didn't eat dinner because I think I would've been hurting like hell by now. That…is so terrible… I'll remember to give Asami a big bear hug tomorrow. I texted back soon enough;

"_To be honest, you probably did the right thing. I know this is personal but…do you still think about her a lot?"_

I just finished the first page of the history homework before I felt my phone vibrate again.

Mako: _"Kind of… I'm starting to get over it though, it's been almost a year after all."_

My eyes went wide. A whole year? Asami should be over it too by now. He must've been really special to her. Then again, it _is_ Asami. She freaks out a lot.

"_I think she'll be fine after a while; seeing how much I bug her, I can keep her mind off of it xD."_

I texted back, just starting on math. Holy shit, Ms. Beifong doesn't wait long. She jumped right into Quadratic Equations from last year already! I sighed; this is going to be a long night.. I felt my phone vibrate as I just answered the first question.

Mako: _"Trust me Korra, I can tell just by meeting you today you probably annoy the living shit out of every person to the point where they can't think straight."_

I glared at the phone, but I grinned.

"_You better watch yourself Mako. Keep talking trash ,and you're going to find yourself thrown into it," _I threatened, smirking as I did so; he texted back in a few minutes.

"_Bring it lol" _I laughed at the message. At least he's not dry enough to not have a sense of humor. I rolled my eyes and texted back;

"_Watch me xD Btw, I'm wearing the pants in this relationship, just so you know."_ I blushed a bit as I sent it. It's the truth though, I'm not letting him walk all over me. _No one_ walks over the Avatar. I just finished my math when he texted back;

"_They're a little big on you though, seeing that it's too big of a position for you. Why don't I?"_

I gripped the phone, a little irritated.

"_So, I'm guessing you just told me I'm too much of a girl to be in charge."_

I finished pretty much EVERYTHING in a jiffy when he texted back;

Mako: _"You'll never know ;)"_

I gaped at the text. That little… I cursed to myself.

"_You're such an ass, you know that?"_

I honestly wondered if he did know. I got a text a bit later;

Mako: _"I figured you thought so, seeing how I can't sneeze without blood coming out now. Give me a memo before you try and kill me next time."_

I laughed hard at that. I _did_ punch him kind of hard when he saved me from the three stooges. I texted back soon enough;

"_It wouldn't be fun if I did that ;D" _I replied.

It was almost 10:30 now. I think I'm just going to sleep. But just before I could text Mako saying so;

Mako: _"Well, I'm exhausted. I'll talk to you later, I guess,"_

He sounds excited. I rolled my eyes and texted back;

"_Me too, gnight."_

Mako: "Gnight"

I got up sleepily and slammed the switches down, turning the lights off. I had just pulled myself under the cool comforter before someone sent me another message. I WANNA SLEEP!

Bolin: _"Hey, sorry, was busy "^_^" _

I yawned. I need sleep. So much. I just barely texted him back;

"_It's alright; I'm going to sleep, see ya tomorrow :P"_

In the next minute he texted back;

"_Alright, ttyl :)"_

I threw my phone on the empty space on the bed, not bothering to plug it up to charge it. I had just barely drifted off to another world before I heard a familiar ringtone go off.

"_Try and tell me what I shouldn't do_

_You should know by now, I won't listen to yo-"_

I rolled over to snatch the phone up and I clicked the talk button.

"Yeah?" I grumbled, my voice cracking.

"Hey! Are you sleeping?" Asami asked. No Asami, I'm riding Naga through the blizzard cold mountains, what the fuck else would I be doing at this time of night? I didn't say that though, because I know I'd be asking for it.

"Yeah, whaddya want?" I whined. She laughed kind of awkwardly, her voice sounding artificial through the telephone static.

"Well, I kind of thought you wanted to know about what happened between Mako and I but…" I can tell she really didn't want to talk about it. It's a good thing Mako went on and told me what happened.

"It's alright, look, I'm about to pass out on the phone, I'll talk to you later," I said sleepily.

"Okay, goodnight," she said skeptically, wondering why I wasn't bursting with questions to her. I had a lot of questions to ask to everyone, but I don't feel like it right now. I just hung up and threw it back onto the bed. I saw the events of the day pass through my eyes once more before drifting slowly to sleep, seeing those amber eyes glow once more before I passed out.

**A/N: GOOD LORD YOU GUYS, I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT WRITING FOR YOU, YOU BETTER LIKE THIS CHAPTER! XD Just kidding but I would love it if you guys can get me to ****140 REVIEWS**** :) reviews does more than magic for a writer, and who knows, I just might be able to write and post another chapter this week, it all depends on you guys ;D thanks so much for reading! Btw, the song used in this chapter is Freak Out by Avril Lavigne, obviously, it's not mine XD anyways! Please REVIEW!~~**


	10. Optimistic

**A/N: I AM BACK and with a new chapter for you guys :) I'M SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG :/ I had writer's block and I had a lot of chores :P anyways, as I said before, not much is going to happen in the next few chapters, sorry :P but I really hope you enjoy this chapter~~**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.**

**Mako's POV:**

My head, oh _spirits_ my head. I'm frustrated beyond belief right now. Just when I thought everything was at its worse, this just _had_ to throw itself at me. One second I was doing homework, now I'm going through an inner turmoil, groaning anxiously and literally pulling my hair in frustration. Why me? Of all people, why me?

Alright, Mako calm down. Try and sort this out. I eventually came to my senses and sat up, trying my best to clear my head. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Alright, _maybe_ the other gangs won't know what the Avatar looks like. Yeah, right. I groaned again, throwing myself back against the couch. I opened my weary eyes, looking up to see the faded white ceiling, trying to sort everything out.

Okay, let's look at the bright side of it all. There is a possibility they don't know exactly what Korra looks like. Although, the "Revelation" knows, I'm sure the Agni Kai's will probably obliterate them, seeing how tight they are with each other. The Triple Threats aren't exactly loyal enough to stay behind each other's backs. If anything happened to a member, they'd tell the boss they couldn't make it to them in time. Just pathetic. Okay, another good thing is the Triple Threats can't touch her right now, so that's one thing to be optimistic about.

Alright, now for the not so bright side; they could all find her and completely destroy her. Fantastic way to look at it Mako. I could feel a migraine hammering on the side of my head after this thought. After a few minutes of my head throbbing with pain, I decided I really could not finish homework today and got up tiredly from the couch, leaving the homework lying on the small table. I was about to trudge towards the bedroom before I heard the door slam open, the warm heat from outside invading quickly. I whirled around and relaxed to see Bolin, cheery as ever.

"Honey, I'm home," Bolin pronounced in a deep voice, arms opened wide like he was expecting a hug. I don't how in hell he does it, but Bolin has always found a way to turn my day around. I snickered and chucked a small pillow from the couch at him. He can be so stupid sometimes. The pillow smacked him hard against his chest and fell against the floor, while Bolin acted like he was hurt.

"Mako, that is no way to treat your brother," he scolded, hands on his hips. I rolled my eyes and went to shut the door.

"Whatever you say, bro," I replied, feeling the heat subside as I closed the door. I wonder what took him so long to get back. I turned to see Bolin dropping his stuff by the door before plopping down on the couch, almost knocking down the abandoned cup of coffee. I was about to get the half finished work off the table before he jumped off the couch abruptly, and ran out the door urgently. What the hell is he doing? I rushed to the door to see Bolin flying down the flight of stairs and running towards the back of the apartment. I went after him and stopped to see him on the ground and pulling a small, red-orange ferret out of a beaten down, cardboard box. He looked down on it, his face flooding with relief. He let out a large sigh and rubbed his finger gently on the ferret's head.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" he panted from the fast run, smiling down on the small animal. The thing chirped happily and crawled up his arm to his shoulders, licking his face. Oh no. No no no. NO. I slapped my hand on my face and dragged it down, letting out a long, exasperated sigh. Bolin looked up at me, smiling sheepishly.

"Um, Mako, this is Pabu," he introduced awkwardly. He then picked up the small thing carefully into both hands, putting it a few inches from my face.

"Pabu, this is Mako," he said, introducing me to the ferret. It blinked its beady black eyes and slowly put its head forward, sniffing my nose before licking it gingerly. I folded my arms across my chest, already coming up with an answer to his unspoken question.

"Nope, not happening Bolin," I said sternly. His face fell fast and he looked at me, his eyes pleading.

"Aw c'mon Mako! Please? I'll clean him, and feed him and everything!" He begged, but I already had my answer planted down. We can't keep a pet. We can barely feed ourselves sometimes; we don't need another mouth the feed.

"_No_ and that's final." I repeated strictly, glaring down at the small thing. I saw Bolin's whole cheery expression shatter in a matter of seconds as he looked down at the ferret dejectedly. Oh shit, he's pulling the heart strings again. I felt a pang of a painful flashback go through my heart, remembering Bolin's sad and teary face when mom and dad wouldn't let him keep a baby cat owl he found in the rain when he was only five. I remembered that I promised him that the next time he found a pet he wanted to keep, I would do whatever to stand up against our parents and let him keep it.

It's too bad I'll never have that chance. I immediately became depressed, lingering on the memories of our beloved parents. These memories will never cease to be perpetual to Bolin or me. I sighed and tried to shove the thoughts of our parents away while I contemplated on what I should do. Well, a promise is a promise… I sighed in defeat. Damn it.

"Alright, you can keep it. As long as you keep it clean and find some way to feed it," I huffed, seeing Bolin perk up immediately, his expression emanating with happiness. He put down the thing carefully before pulling me into a crushing platypus bear hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll never forget this, I promise!" he thanked, still crushing and popping at least 15 bones in my back.

"Bo- can't- breathe," I barely puffed out before he let go and dropped me quickly. I gasped, hands on my knees to hold me up.

"Sorry, sorry," he quickly apologized before swooping down to pick up the fur ball. He lifted the thing up high in the air, smiling brightly at it.

"Well, looks like you got a new home, Pabu!" he proclaimed happily. I wonder what I got myself into. I just shook my head and made my ways towards the front of the apartment again before I felt something jump onto my head. I looked up to see the thing's head pop down in front of my face, chirping and looking curiously at me. I felt its fat tail sweeping repeatedly against the back of my neck, and I reached my hand up, picking the thing up by its fur. I stared, scrutinizing the thing slowly, while it just let its paws and feet hang, turning its small head ever so slightly as if questioning my actions. It isn't scratching, so at least it doesn't have fleas. I turned and walked back to Bolin, dropping it into his hands.

"I think he likes you already," Bolin teased, smirking as we walked back up the stairs of the apartment.

"Psh. Sure," I replied sarcastically. I looked over to see the thing holding tightly to Bolin's shoulders.

We soon made it inside the apartment with the new "member of the house hold" Bolin called it. As soon as we walked through the door, he set the thing down and it crawled around, observing everything in the room.

"I swear, if it pisses on anything Bolin_-_" I started to say before Bolin put up a hand, stopping me. He extended one finger on his hand.

"First off, "it" is a he. Second off, I told you I would take care of him, which also means I'll train him," he reassured. I sighed and went to the cupboard, hoping to god we had some Tylenol. I brightened up a bit at seeing the familiar bottle. But when I picked it up, I shook it and heard nothing. Fuck. I groaned as I flung the empty bottle into the trash. As I turned to walk back the couch, I saw the ferret scamper across the floor and up into the trash bin. It's only been here five minutes and it's already getting messing around in shit. I picked it up by its fur again and lifted it up to my eye sight. It stared at me; just letting his body hang loose under him.

"First rule, no messing around in the trash," I said sternly, talking to it as if it could understand me. The thing then squirmed in my grasp, chirping uncomfortably. Bolin grabbed the thing from my grip, rubbing its head comfortingly.

"It's okay, Pabu. He can be a real douche sometimes, but once you get to know him, he's a nice guy," Bolin whispered to his pet. I rolled my eyes and started making dinner. Onigiri with no kind of spice or meat to put in them. Yum. I started washing the rice before I heard Bolin cough behind me, trying to get my attention. I looked back, seeing the corner of his mouth pulled up in a smirk. Oh god.

"So, when were you going to tell me you're going out with Korra?" Oh shit, how'd he find out? I meant to tell him later, because I didn't want to hurt his feelings but I guess it's too late. I just hope he's not too head-over-heels for her. Maybe he'll forgive me. I was about to explain but my embarrassment took over and I began stammering on every word like an idiot.

"W- Well, you see, um." Mako, stop with the fucking gibberish and answer the question! Before I could actually say anything, I saw Bolin break out into a fit of laughter, holding his stomach for support. I felt my face suddenly become hot; becoming a little embarrassed about how he even found out in the first place. He finally gained control of himself, and pulled himself upright on the couch again.

"Calm down, bro. It's alright, no need to freak out," he assured, smiling. Wait, what? I looked at him confused.

"Really?" I asked doubtfully. He nodded his head, still smiling that same goofy smile.

"Yeah! I could tell there was something going on between you two, seeing how close you two were standing and how flirty you were being," he teased, pointing accusingly at me. I gaped at him. I was not flirting! Was I?

"I was not flirting!" I argued. Bolin rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. I don't think I was flirting… I really don't.

"Dude, I know flirting when I see it and _you_ sir, were flirting with miss avatar," he taunted me. He can be so annoying sometimes. I just turned my back to him, not saying anything. I wasn't doing anything. I heard him getting up from the couch behind me, and I expected him to mess with me even more before he laid a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see him looking at me, concerned.

"Mako, I know you like Korra and all, but be careful. And try not to hurt yourself this time," he cautioned me, remembering the break up between me and Asami. I had told him I didn't want to get involved with the Triple Threats, since they attacked her estate and all, so I broke up with her. The pure irony. I felt my heart go heavy once again with the burden of having to lie to him all the time. I know I was only doing it for his safety but I couldn't help but feel like complete shit every time I lie to him. I tried to shake away the wave of depression. I nodded, letting him know I'll be careful. I saw his expression grow even more serious, his eyebrows furrowing.

"But most of all," he stopped, breathing in deeply. Then his expression changed back it usual goofy exterior.

"Have fun! But _not_ too much fun," he warned, winking at me before slinking away from me. Ugh…

"Bolin!" I scolded, hearing his laughter boom throughout the apartment room. He picked up the ferret before sitting on the couch. I focused on washing the rice again, thinking about Korra. This really will be an interesting week, just like I thought. Besides all the chaos that just might happen, this will probably be a fun week. She's so damn easy to tease, it's hilarious. I smiled at the thought of her. Wait a minute Mako. You can't get attached to her. You can only be friends. I thought about how she probably had more questions to ask me today, so I went on and pulled my phone out, fixing to text her before putting the designated amount of water into the pot.

You know, it's strange. Seeing how we never have much money, we're somehow able to afford cellphones. Well, the Triple Threats bought this one for me a couple years back so we could keep in touch. I bought Bolin one, just in case he got into any trouble. And thank spirits I did too because Bolin is one hell of a troublemaker.

"_Hey Korra."_ I texted simply. I had just pressed the button to start the rice before I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a text from Korra.

Korra: _"Nice to talk to you too lol." _I chuckled to myself. Sarcastic much?

_"Lol, whatever. So, you got any more questions to bombard me with?" _I might as well get the questions over with. I felt Bolin elbow me lightly. I looked over at him and he had the same teasing grin again.

"Sending lovey dovey texts already?" I felt myself blush at his assumption.

"H-Hell no!" I snapped, turning away from him. He snickered and stopped for a bit, rubbing the ferret's head, resulting in it moving closer towards his its owner. I soon felt my phone vibrate again and I pulled it out of my pocket;

Korra: _"Yeah, actually. What the hell happened between you and Asami? I know yall used to go out but what happened to you two?" _Crap. I should've known that question was going to come up. I honestly didn't like talking about it. It's not that I still like her or anything; it's just a lot of drama.

_"It's…too complicated to explain. Why don't you ask Asami?"_ Oh wow Mako, that was really smart. Get her to explain it. No offense, but in my opinion, girls exaggerate way too much about shit like this. Oh well. I turned on the small TV set to see what was on; a bunch of random nonsense as usual. I never really did like TV. I felt my phone vibrate again.

Korra: _"Because she would overly exaggerate everything. No offense, but I think you'd probably explain it more properly :P"_ Hmm. She really _is_ Asami's best friend if she knows that much about her. Oh well, I guess I'll explain. I sighed and began.

_"Alright. Well, yeah, we we're going out before, but..it just all kind of went downhill once the Triple Threats found out. They tried robbing the Sato Mansion and their products, so Asami's dad called the Police and the Police towed like almost half of the Triple Threats to jail." _ I remembered that day clearly. Everyone was pissed at me, and Asami was worried out of her mind. I continued.

_I told her I couldn't be with her afterwards, because they would've gone after her like they tried to go after you today if I stayed with her. I had to beg the hell out of the Boss not to do anything to her and eventually, they complied. Although, I don't think they could get her if they tried, seeing how much security they have down there now. I just thought it would be safe for her and me if we broke up. I know it isn't her fault but every time those asses blame me for something, they bring that up and I think of her… I know it isn't her fault tho. It's all mine. I should've known better than to go out with the daughter of Future Industries.." _I explained finally. I have no idea why I'm opening up to her though. I felt myself become a little depressed, remembering Asami that day. I'm having way too many memories and flashbacks today.

"You alright, Mako?" Bolin asked, concerned. I turned to him and smiled a bit. I didn't want him worrying.

"I'm fine, just tired," I explained, getting up from the couch to check on the rice. It was done cooking, so I let it cool down a bit. I walked back over to couch to hear my phone vibrating again.

Korra: _"Oh my gosh Mako…I had no idea…I'm so sorry! ):" _Why is she apologizing? She didn't do anything. She really does care for me though… I tried to ignore that and continued.

_"Yeah, it's alright though. So far, I've done well in avoiding her. I know that's really low, even for me, but I can't get afford to get close to her. It would only hurt her worse. I've told her this many times, but she's convinced we can still make it work. I feel terrible every time I have to turn her down but, I don't know what else to do…"_ Okay, now I really need to stop. I need to stop opening up around her. I can't afford getting hurt again. Before I could scold myself any longer, I felt my phone vibrate quickly.

_"To be honest, you probably did the right thing. I know this is personal but…do you still think about her a lot?"_ That is a really good question. Honestly, I really don't know. Sometimes I'd find myself thinking about her, but most of the time, I try to avoid those thoughts. But it's been a while since the breakup, so it doesn't bother me as much. It took me a bit before I answered her.

_"Kind of… I'm starting to get over it though, it's been almost a year after all."_ Almost a whole year; yeah, I'm over it. I looked over and laughed to see Bolin getting the ferret dance on its two tiny feet by holding its small arms. I got up and started making the Onigiri, shaping the rice into triangles. After I finished making several Onigiri's, I felt my phone go off again.

Korra:_ "I think she'll be fine after a while; seeing how much I bug her, I can keep her mind off of it xD." _Haha, she has a point. I decided to mess with her a little, smiling as I sent the message.

_"Trust me Korra, I can tell just by meeting you today you probably annoy the living shit out of every person to the point where they can't think straight." _It was probably true, seeing how loud she was. I just got the seaweed out when she texted back.

Korra: _"You better watch yourself Mako. Keep talking trash, and you're going to find yourself thrown into it." _Ooh, threats now, is it? I laughed; texting back.

_"Bring it lol" _I set the food on the small dinner table in the kitchen.Bolin slunk in, picking up one of the onigiris, shoving the whole thing in his mouth.

"Thanks Mako," he thanked, his words muffled by the large amount of food he just shoved in his mouth. I saw the thing jump up on the table, sniffing at one of the individual onigiris before taking a small bite out of it. I was going to yell at it for getting on the table before I felt my phone vibrate again. I think Bolin caught my drift and picked the thing off the table, setting its food on the ground.

Korra:_ "Watch me xD Btw, I'm wearing the pants in this relationship, just so you know."_ Oh, is she? I'd love to see that. She already seemed so embarrassed and anxious about all of this, so how was she supposed to take control? I grinned at the message, taking a bite out of one of the tasteless onigiris.

_"They're a little big on you though, seeing that it's too big of a position for you. Why don't I?" _I replied, grinning as I wondered what her reaction will be like. The next minute I heard my phone vibrate again.

Korra: _"So, I'm guessing you just told me I'm too much of a girl to be in charge."_ Not exactly what I meant, but sure, if that's what she wants to think. I'll just let her think whatever. I smirked as I texted her back;

_"You'll never know ;)" _I looked over to see Bolin giving the ferret another onigiri, smiling down happily on the pet. I actually felt a lot better, glad he finally got to keep a pet; even though I was going to have to deal with it too. Suddenly, I started yawning loudly; stretching and looking at the clock. 10:24 already? Oh well; I trudged my ways towards the bedroom.

"Gnight bro, make sure you get to bed soon too" I told Bolin. He nodded then turned towards the ferret again, playing with him. I went in my room and closed the door behind me before slumping exhaustedly onto the bed. I eventually got up when my phone vibrated again in my pocket. I pulled it out;

Korra: _"You're such an ass, you know that?"_ I laughed at the message, then stripping down to my boxers, flopping onto the bed once more.

_"I figured you thought so, seeing how I can't sneeze without blood coming out now. Give me a memo before you try and kill me next time." _I wasn't kidding about the sneezing part, just when I was walking my way towards home from the air temple, it happened and it didn't feel great either. She sure does how to fuck someone up bad, but of course she would know how fight; she's the avatar. It still surprised me though. I looked around on the ground beside me, searching for the alarm clock to set it to the right time to wake up. I eventually found it and set it, hearing my phone vibrate again on the small table beside me.

Korra: _"It wouldn't be fun if I did that ;D" _Hm, so she enjoyed hurting me then? Interesting. I was about to laugh again before a loud yawn interrupted. I'm really about to pass out soon. I quickly texted her;

"_Well, I'm exhausted. I'll talk to you later, I guess."_ I then hooked my phone up to the charger and sat it back on the table beside me, then sliding under the bedcover, ready to sleep. Just before I could pass off into what probably would've been another nightmare, I heard my phone vibrate again beside me. I slapped my hand on the table, searching for it with my hand. I soon found it and pulled it down to my view.

Korra: _"Me too, gnight"_ She must be exhausted too. I don't blame her; it's been a pretty exhausting day for both of us. Of course, I didn't fight and escape a bunch of weird men with tasers… Well, you know what I mean. I texted back;

"_Gnight."_ then tossing the phone back up on the table. I closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep but for some reason, everything that's happened today was getting to me. I stood up to Shady Shin, I found out about a possible new gang that'll distract the TTT and I'm now dating the avatar. You know, when I look at it all that way, today was actually a pretty good day. At that thought, I was able to drift off into a very rare and peaceful sleep.

***Onigiri: the Japanese word for rice balls. Rice balls are a popular Japanese food, made out of sticky white rice, which commonly formed in a triangular shape and wrapped with nori (aka seaweed)**

**A/N: :D:D:D YUS! I finally finished it T.T I'm sorry if it sucks, and I'm sorry for the repetition :/ I know I'm not a great writer, but I'm trying my best, so I hope you at least enjoyed it a little bit..? :) Okay guys, thanks for reading, let's try and see if we can get to: **

**170 REVIEWS **

**and I'll try and update as soon as I can get to the computer again XD Of course, I'll be at my bro's bday party all day today, so no more chapters today~ Thank you guys so much for reading, please review!~**


	11. A Fantastic Start to the Day

**A/N: Yo! I'm back with another chapter :) I'm going to try a different approach in this chapter~ I'm NOT going to use Normal POV just yet (for I am being a stubborn bitch xD) I'm going to try to use both POVS in one chapter, but in a different way. I'm going to need you guys to review afterwards and tell me what you think! I didn't see many reviews on the last chapter, so I'm going to try my damnest to do better on this one! :D Okay guys, here is the next chapter~**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :)**

**Korra's POV:**

I open my eyes and looked around to see nothing but complete darkness surrounding me. What the hell? Where am I? I swirled around, desperately looking for light, but looked on in vain. I began running around frantically, not knowing where I was going.

"Hello? Anyone out there?" I shouted, hearing nothing but my echo. I must be in a room, hearing my voice reverberate around me. Then I remembered I was the avatar and could use fire to see my way around. Korra, think! I scolded myself, and then lit a fire out of the palm of my hand. But as soon as I could see around me, I saw that I was surrounded by the same cloaked black ninjas from yesterday, their eyes seemingly red from the light reflecting off their goggles.

Then as if on signal, their weapons went ablaze with electricity. Before they could get too close to me, I span around hastily, surrounding myself in a thick barrier of fire from their attacks. I then flipped around them, the fire quickly vanishing as I ran and tried to find some way out. Wait, I can't hear anyone running after me anymore. I stopped, looking back as if I would be able to see them. I stopped running, stopping to listen. But all I could hear was my ragged breathing and my heart beating irregularly. Where did they go? I was becoming very anxious, staying as quiet as I could to detect any more danger.

"Avatar…" I heard someone say in a hushed whisper from a far distance, but seeing how quiet it was around me, I heard the voice clearly. I tensed up and got into my traditional bending stance, ready to fight whatever came at me. I heard the whisper suddenly multiply, coming from all around me, and I distinctly remembered the voice, but I couldn't place it. I began sweating profusely, still ready to fight.

"I'm coming…" I heard the voices promise, no longer whispering as the voices were now loud and clear as a bell, repeating itself over and over. I began to shudder as I heard the voices slowly get closer. I can't take it anymore! I'm not just going to wait for someone to attack me. I summoned up enough courage to light up another fire in the palm of my hand to look around once more. But the second I lit up the fire, the voices stopped abruptly, everything becoming silent again. I felt my heart tighten up in my chest, still beating like a drum. The whispers started up again and I became very agitated from being in fright and suspense.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted at the voices, then hearing them become impossibly louder. I gave in and put up another fire, just about sick of all the voices. I was ready to beat the shit out of whoever was messing with me. But just as I lit the fire, I felt my blood run cold and my breath catch in my throat as I was now staring straight into the sinister eyes of the masked man, only inches away from me.

"I'm here." ~~~~~~

"AHHHH!" I screamed, gasping for breath. I peered around to see that I was at home, still in bed. I whipped my head around me, looking for any sign of danger. So it was a dream… I groaned and fell tiredly against the bed. How can I be so stupid? I shouldn't even be thinking about that weirdo! He's no threat to me! Is he..? I mean, he did summon up a huge group of highly trained warriors to literally tase the shit out of everyone in the "Probending Arena…"

Still, I don't understand what bothered me so much about him, that I had a nightmare. I sighed and turned over, trying to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep. But before I could even close my eyes, I saw the dreaded lights go on and I heard the familiar light feet flit across my room. I pulled the covers over my head and groaned. It _can't_ be morning already.

"Get up, get up, get up!" I heard Meelo demand, trying to jerk the covers out of my iron grip. This morning can't get any more aggravating. I just fucked myself over, didn't I? Because as soon as that thought came to mind, I felt not only the covers fly off of me, but I felt myself flying _with_ them, crashing against the wall on the other side of my room with a loud bang.

I was still tangled up in the covers when I looked up to see Meelo frozen in place with wide, frightened eyes. Oh, he better be scared shitless after that little trick. I glared at him and jumped off the ground, absolutely livid. I guess you could say I was never the morning person because if he hadn't ran out of the room screaming for Tenzin, I probably would've attacked him with an interminable charge of fire. I roared with anger and frustration, then gave in and threw the covers carelessly onto the bed, starting to get ready for the day.

I whined as I walked towards the bathroom, my head and back searing with pain from the crash. I looked back to see thin cracks decorating the wall where I slammed into it. If Tenzin comes in here and blames me for that, I'm going to flip the fuck out. This just isn't my morning. I shuffled towards the bathroom and turned on the shower, waiting for it to warm up.

I sighed happily once I got in the hot shower, the comfort of it all dissolving the pain in my back and making me forget my previous complaints. I got out quickly, shaking the water off. I wrapped a towel around me and walked towards the closet, searching for something to wear. I decided to go with a purple racerback tank top, dark blue skinny jeans and black checkered Vans. I looked into the tall mirror; at least I looked good, I thought optimistically.

I grabbed my bag and looked at the clock sitting on the table. 7:03, eh? I'm on good time, maybe I'll be able to eat breakfast; assuming that there's any left. I walked towards the dining room, seeing Ikki already coming up with a storm of random questions for Tenzin, while Meelo was on Tenzin's shoulders, biting at his bald head. I laughed at the scene; so much for a happy family.

I saw Jinora help bring in plates for her mother, quiet as the wind. Out of the three bustling kids, she really does take after Tenzin; except she's more sociable and humorous. Tenzin couldn't tell a joke to save his life.

I went to go help out Pema, but stopped at the threshold of the kitchen, completely awestruck by the towering stack of pancakes lying ominously on a single plate, just threatening to fall over. Pema saw my incredulous expression and chuckled.

"Everyone's a bit hungry this morning," she explained, answering my unspoken question. Everyone's hungry? The whole damn stack is at almost as tall as Tenzin! I didn't question her though; I knew a lot of pregnant women back at the Southern Water Tribe, and I swear, I think I saw one eat a whole seal once, so I don't blame her if she's hungry.

She must be famished though, even if she is pregnant, staying home and watching three dynamic, accident-prone airbenders is hard work. I went over and carefully put half the stack onto another plate.

"Oh, you don't have to help. I'm almost done anyways," she affirmed with a smile, slapping another pancake onto the enormous heap. I nodded and returned to the dining room, sitting on the smooth wooden chair at the table. I saw Tenzin just sit there and try to answer all of Ikki's rapid trail of questions while trying to ignore the insistent biting on his head. I snickered at the scene and saw Tenzin turn his attention towards me.

"Someone's having a rough morning," I teased. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"I could say the same for you. I heard your roaring quite clearly from where I'm sitting, and seeing how you're three rooms away, that's kind of loud. Did one of the kids wake you up this time?" he asked. I glared at Meelo; he caught my glare and jumped off Tenzin's head, making Tenzin grunt in discomfort.

"She was gonna kill me, daddy!" he accused, pointing at me. Not necessarily kill. Just severely injure. Nah, I couldn't do that, but I _was_ pissed. I chuckled at his accusation, and stood up, leaning across the table. I lifted my hand up, emitting fire off each finger. I put on an intimidating look and smiled diabolically.

"You're lucky you got away, pipsqueak. Unless you got a death wish, I'd suggest you sit down and be a good little boy until I leave, got it?" I threatened in a low tone, feeling my smile getting wider as I saw Meelo gulp and sit down obediently. I let the fire vanish from my fingers. Tenzin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, surprisingly letting my little threat go by. He then coughed, changing the subject.

"I see you skipped out on airbending practice once again, Korra," he claimed, his expression becoming grave. Oh shit! With everything that happened yesterday, I completely forgot I still had to practice my airbending, which was the whole reason I even came here. I grinned sheepishly, and looked down, trying to come up with a good explanation.

"Um, I can explai-" I started before he put up a hand, halting me.

"I will let this pass, seeing how yesterday _was_ the first day of school. How was it, by the way?" he inquired. Oh dear god, yesterday was…ugh. It wasn't necessarily bad, it was just…INSANE. I groaned in response, letting my head fall hit and bang the table. I looked up to see Tenzin looking at me warily, quirking an eyebrow. I sat back up.

"It was…alright." I finally answered. Honestly, it was alright, it was just confusing. Tenzin looked at me uncertainly. He opened his mouth to speak but then saw his wife bringing in the gargantuan stacks of pancakes and got up immediately to help her. He took one of the plates from her, starting to bring it to the table.

"Oh no, you sit back down, I got this," Pema affirmed, smiling at Tenzin. He was about to object before she interrupted by taking back the plate and setting it on the table.

"I need you to distract the kids while I put the food on the table," she explained, laughing at Tenzin's exasperated, worn down expression. He eventually sat down. They really are a cute couple, I thought with a smile.

We then said our thanks and dug in. I just ate my third pancake before Tenzin ahemed to get the attention of someone at the table. I looked up from my heap of sugar-coated food to him looking at me.

"Korra, I believe I heard something about an attack yesterday..?" he questioned more than he stated. I coughed on my half swallowed food, trying to conceal my shock. I saw everyone then look at me expectantly. Shit. How did he find out? I didn't want him to know about that. I don't like letting him know about my personal problems much, he has too much to worry about already. I looked at him incredulously and tried laughing it off, faking a smile.

"What? That's crazy talk, Tenzin! Where'd you get a crazy story like that?" I responded, not really answering his question. I saw his expression filled with skepticism and saw him point his thumb towards Pema, Jinora and Ikki. I cursed to myself. I should've known they would've eavesdropped. But then again, seeing how loud Asami can be when she's angry, you can hear her clearly through two walls thick. But seeing how Tenzin's a leader, councilman, loving father and husband, they tell everything they hear to him. But then again, they might've just done that for my safety. They ought to not worry though. I can take care of myself…I think. I sighed in defeat and tried to answer him.

"Well…yeah. It wasn't anything serious though, just a bunch of punks. I'm fine," I assured him. He raised an eyebrow at me skeptically. But then shrugged and continued to eat. I had just pulled up my fork to my mouth before Ikki began to interrogate me.

"Hey Korra, who's the guy that Asami was talking about yesterday? Is he your boyfriend? What's his name?" I dropped my fork at the second question, feeling my cheeks ignite red with fire. I looked around to see everyone looking at me incredulously, Tenzin looking more shocked than anyone else. Thanks a lot Ikki, my morning just got so much fucking better. I'm just getting more and more sarcastic by the minute, huh? I felt myself become very panicked, expecting a hell of a lot of questions, so I did the only thing I could do; evacuate.

"W- Well, would you look at the time, is it that late already? I should get going!" I said, jumping out of my chair and grabbing my bag as I said so. I then stopped in my place when I saw Jinora and Ikki staring at something out of the window next to the front door.

Curiously, I went over to look and I felt my heart jump into my throat with panic when I saw Mako, standing by the gates that surround the Air Temple. WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING!? I turned to see Jinora and Ikki look at me with bright, wide eyes.

"Is that him? Oooh! He's so cute, Korra! Can we see him pleaseeee?" I heard Ikki beg. Oh dear god no. I saw Jinora look at me hopefully. You would've thought I was an airbender right then, seeing how fast the wind blew past me as I ran out the door and towards Mako imprudently in a matter of seconds. I saw Mako look at me, eyes wide with alarm. I grabbed his arm hastily and jerked him over to cover him from the sights of the two curious young eyes of the kids.

"Hey, you mind telling me what the fuck you're doing out here?" I blurted out, strangely feeling mad. I mean, he didn't even tell me he was coming. I saw him blink a few times in surprise, backing away a little like I might hit him again.

I felt myself smirk a little smugly at his slightly frightened stance. He then put up his hands in defense, his amber eyes going alight with amusement. So much for me being intimidating. What does it take to scare this guy?

"Calm down, crazy. I was just waiting for you," he explained, feeling my heart go a little fast. Waiting? What the hell for?

"Waiting? Why?" I asked curiously. I saw him grin a bit at me.

"I would think any girl would love to be escorted to school with their significant other," he taunted, grinning. Its morning and he's already fucking with me. I groaned, remembering the agreement we had. I then rolled my eyes at his taunt, crossing my arms.

"Significant other, my ass," I muttered, turning my head away from him. I heard him chuckle quietly and then walk towards me.

"Well, we going or what?" I heard him ask. I stayed quiet stubbornly, trying to decide if I wanted to walk with him to school. I could ride with Asami, which was a five minute ride to school with little chance of fussing. Or, I could walk with Mako, which was a thirty minute walk to school and a guarantee certificate of getting in a fight. But seeing the agreement we have, I'm stuck with the second option. Damn.

I huffed and started walking towards school, brushing past him briskly. This is going to be a long and agonizing day.

**A/N: SHORT CHAPTER! :P Sorry it's not too great… but I tried to give more of an insight on Korra and the Airbender's family life in this chapter xD Okay guys, seriously, I'm starting to have an epiphany. I think this story is going a bit fast…even though there are much more chapters to come, what do you guys think? Please review, tell me what you think. Maybe I'll actually get to 170 this time…XD. Alright, thanks for reading!**


	12. Mornings

**A/N: Yo! I'm back with another chap guys! :D Man, I am really sorry for not updating sooner *-* I've been so busy, what with school starting back and all; I'm not really enjoying it, but ya know xD Well, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it~~**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING. THE STORY AND MUSIC LYRICS DO NOT BELONG TO ME.**

**Mako's POV**

Mornings. Aren't they just wonderful? It doesn't matter how you wake up, you're still ill. But there are some ways to wake up that make you more agitated then normal. For example, I woke up with something licking my face repeatedly. Wait, WHAT?

"The fuck!?" I heard myself curse loudly as I jumped out of the bed quickly, peering into the dark only to hear something thump against the wall. I felt my hand ignite with fire on instinct, but felt it die down when I saw Pabu standing straight up against the wall on his two white-pawed feet, like a real person would be if it were cornered. I actually chuckled, strangely not pissed at ferret.

I let the fire die down completely and turned on the lamp, walking towards the now shaking ferret. Did I scare it that bad?

"Sorry," I said, apologizing to the thing. Great, now I'm being ridiculous. I think the thing thought so too, because he tilted his head sideways, looking a bit confused. It then scampered cautiously away from me, sliding through the thin crack of the open door. I huffed and dropped back to the bed. Sheesh. What a great way to wake up.

I rolled over sluggishly to see it was already 6:30. Wow, I actually _overslept_ for once. No nightmares or anything. That's a first. I think I've only had a handful of nights that were dreamless. I mean, even when I was with Asami, I'd still have those awful nightmares… I'm not even going to explain them. I don't want to ruin the good mood I think I have going on.

I forced her out of my mind and turned over to see Bolin just waking up, yawning and stretching, then plopping back into the bed. I felt a smirk sliding across my face. I swear, he could sleep till noon if he wanted to.

"You need to get with the program, bro," I teased, him groaning and sitting up, plopping his head onto his hand, his elbow resting on the crook of his knee.

"Look who's talking. Seeing how you're not even dressed and how crazy your hair is, you just got up too.. Something keeping you up?" he retorted, a knowing grin plastering his face. I turned and ignored him in response, making my ways towards the shower. He's still on about me "going out" with Korra. I'm not even really going out with her, but of course, he doesn't know that. All I know is, this whole shebang is fake. I tried to forget everything for a few minutes as I entered the now steaming shower.

I got out quickly, walking towards the small closet in our room. I heard the small radio in our room going on at a pretty legit volume. I walked in, opening the closet before I found myself frozen, listening to the lyrics.

"_Never thought not having you here would hurt so much_

_Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up_

_I need your loving hands to come and pick me up_

_And every night I miss you_

_I can just look up_

_And know the stars are holding you, holding yo-"_

I punched the power button of the radio off, having to try my damnest to hold back the urge to burn the thing to ashes. Damn it all. So much for a good morning.

That song… It literally just slashed the murder scene of my beloved mother and father through my heart, the hardships that Bolin and I had to face on the first few months on our own on the streets, those bitter cold nights I would hold Bolin while he slept, staring at the stars, defiantly letting the tears fall… fuck everything. I sighed deeply as I tried to pull myself together, shoving things around to find something to wear.

"Mako..?" I turned to see Bolin with a concerned look in his eyes. Great, now I've gotten him worried. I don't know why though, I'm usually able to handle myself better than that. Get it together, Mako! "I'm fine, bro. I just don't like FM Static, is all," I lied, faking a smile. He looked at me a little skeptically for a bit, but he shrugged and let it go.

"I see you didn't have any nightmares last night, and you were actually sleeping too," he claimed with a smile. Yeah, sometimes I fake sleeping for his sake, but it doesn't work. He always finds out, because apparently, I snore like a bear when I sleep. I mean, he _is_ my brother and all, so I guess he would find out. I think he's lying about the snoring though. I don't sleep _that_ peacefully. But anyways, as for him knowing I have nightmares...let's just say I accidentally burn stuff in my sleep sometimes. But that's only when my nightmares get _really _lucid. I haven't screamed in my sleep in a while now though, but I do sometimes. I know, it sucks, but I deal with it. It has been ten years after all... Wow.

"Yeah, guess I got lucky," I shrugged it off like it was nothing. Although, he had a mischievous grin on his face saying otherwise. "So what_ did _you dream about then?" I sighed exasperatedly. There he goes again with that.

"Nothing, I didn't dream anything," I snapped. I was telling the truth though, for once. He gave me a skeptical look and gave me a goofy smile. "That's not possible, Mako. Science says you dream every single night," he proclaimed smart alecky. I laughed. Smart ass. I raised a questioning eyebrow at him, grinning slightly.

"Okay, since when did you start listening in class?"I countered. He scoffed and laughed. "Psh. I don't," he professed. I rolled my eyes, but then became stern.

"You really need to do better with grades this year, bro. You can't afford to fall behind," I told him earnestly. His shoulders slumped forward and he huffed tiredly. I've told him about a million times, I'm the one who should be tired.

"I know, I'll try," he promised, walking out the room and then calling Pabu. He really does need to start working on it, if he wants to get into college. Hell, I've even started saving up money so he can go. As for me...I really don't know what I'm going to do...I might just be stuck with the Triple Threats for the rest of my life... I tried to ignore that thought as I pulled out a purple and black flannel shirt, a black undershirt, faded dark blue jeans and my converses out of the small closet.

It's funny; we sure do have a lot of clothes for us to have been living on the streets a few years ago. We've started making more money since then though. But shit, I'd wear the same two outfits everyday if I could, but of course, seeing how much of a ladies man Bolin is, he drags me with him to random stores he sees fit, and makes me buy clothes. He said I need to improve my appearance if I wanted to get a girlfriend.

Yup, get a girlfriend he said. It'd be fun he said. Stressful, more like it. But then again, it isn't too bad. I mean, sure Korra's loud, hot headed, sort of obnoxious and somewhat presumptuous, but she seems pretty alright besides that. Like I've said before, she's really fun to tease after all. I tugged the clothes on and grabbed my phone, shoving it into my pocket.

I walked into the kitchen to see Pabu _balancing _a cup on his feet, walking steadily across the counter top. Holy crap. Even Bolin was amazed; even though he had pride filling in his eyes. He taught him this? Apparently I thought this out loud because Bolin answered me with "Taught him everything he knows," he said, beaming with a smile. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my bag, ready to head out the door. I turned to see Bolin was still just in his boxers though. I sighed tiredly. Maybe I coddled him too much over the years. He saw my aggravated expression, and smiled abashed.

"You can go on, I promise to be there on time," he assured, waving me off. Should I leave him to go on his own..?

"I'll be fine! Don't worry," he reassured. How does he do that? He reads my mind like a book. Oh well... hell, even if I've been the one protecting him most of his life, he's a tough guy. I'll trust him to go on his own. I waved at him and went on my way. Damn, it's only 7 and its already hot as shit outside. I knew it was going to be 83 degrees but sheesh.

But even walking through the brutal heat, I thought up a pretty good, well, stupid idea more like it. I guess I can try and get on Korra's good side today; seeing how she already seems to detest me. The least I can do is try to be friends with her. I'm insane, I know. Dear god, I wonder how clamorous and crabby she'll be today. For some stupid reason, I felt myself smirk at that.

I texted her; letting her know I was coming. She'd probably kill me for showing up without a word. How wrong I am.

"_Hey, I'll walk you to school today." _Too demanding? I think not.

Well, I soon made it to the Air Temple, waiting for hell. Why do I say that? Well, seeing how fucking insane Korra's eyes looked when she came running at 200 mph at me, she looked like almost like a demon how fast she ran at me. Hell's angel sounds better for her. Shut up Mako. ANYWAYS, yeah, one second I was just waiting, the next I saw her making a beeline towards me, grabbing my arm and literally swinging me to the other side of the concrete fence post. I knew the avatar was supposed to be strong but _damn! _I jerked my arm out of her tight grip and looked at her like she was insane. Who knows, maybe she is, but jeez, who pissed in her cereal this morning?

"Hey, you mind telling me what the fuck you're doing here?" she spat, her eyes still wild. She must've had a really bad morning. Even I was a little worried; I kind of backed up on instinct. WAIT. I'm involved in one of the most dangerous gangs in the city, and I'm backing down to a local school girl. Mako Tamotsu, what are you becoming to? I think she kind of noticed because I think I could see the slightest smug grin appear out of her, despite the raid of madness she's going through. I can't believe I let her even think I was scared of her. I'm really slow this morning. Note to self: _NEVER_ sleep late ever again.

I pulled myself together and, very arbitrarily I might add, decided to mess with her. I pulled my hands up in mock defense.

"Calm down, crazy. I was just waiting for you," I clarified, grinning at her dumbstruck expression.

"Waiting? Why?" She either didn't read my text or she's playing dum. Which one is it? I honestly don't know. I just played along. I smirked when I came up with a pretty sarcastic remark.

"I would think any girl would love to be escorted to school with their significant other," I replied, taunting her. I then saw her throw her head back, groan and then roll her eyes.

"Significant other, my ass," I heard her murmur, crossing her arms against her chest. I let a chuckle fall out and walked towards her.

"Well, we going or what?" I asked curiously; seeing how mad she is, I really doubt she'd even go if she had to. I saw her keeping her head turned from me, silently contemplating. After a minute or so, I saw her huff and walk past me, cold air flowing behind her in the hot heat. Damn. I guess that's a yes, seeing how she didn't say anything. For some reason, I felt the muscles in my shoulders and neck relax from their previous tensions. I sped up my pace, trying to match hers.

She stayed silent for a good minute or two; silence before the storm I guess.

"You could've at least told me you was coming," she muttered. Excuse me?

"_What?_" I asked incredulously. She turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, you didn't say anything," she claimed.

"Yeah, I did. I texted you," I protested, hands at my sides. I saw her nose flare with irritation and she jerked her phone out of her pocket and she had the same dumbstruck expression as before when she saw the message. I had to try my best not to laugh because I she was already fuming. She turned from me again. "See?" I said, probably making her more angry. "Yeah, yeah," she snapped. I guess I'll try to be friendly with her now; she really seems upset this morning. I wonder what set her off. I gently grabbed her shoulder, getting her attention. Her eyes flickered to my hand, and to me.

"Look, I know you probably hate me right now," she raised an eyebrow and kind of smirked at that. "Probably?" she asks. Wow, that _really_ makes me feel better. I rolled my eyes and continued. "But can we at least _try_ and be friends during this...?" I asked hopefully. Because spirits knows I don't want to go through hell this week. She crossed her arms and eyed me very skeptically, like she didn't believe me. I see the answer yes is going to be a very bleak chance... She put a finger up to her bottom lip thoughtfully and looked up, eyes focusing on the thoughts in her head. It was almost adorable in a way.

"Alright, but you're going to have to stop fucking with me, its really getting annoying" she answered earnestly but her blue eyes were light. Haha. I don't think I could do that. Although I gave her a grateful smile, I replied with

"And why would I want to do that when it's so much fun?" I teased, leaning over her. I don't know why I'm still teasing her, I mean, I'm ecstatic by her answer but I don't know. I saw her mouth go a little agape and she put one of her hands on her hips and used the other to push my chest playfully.

"Don't push it, we almost became friends," she laughed, messing around. Damn, sudden mood change or what? Oh well, at least that's settled, I actually feel a lot better now. Maybe it'll be safe to ask what the hell was up with her this morning. I shoved my hands in my pockets, us a few minutes away from school. Before I could ask anything I saw her extend her hand out, but she was looking down, her hair hiding her face from my view.

"What are yo-" I started to ask before she started to making a grabbing motion with her hand, and turned to me with her cheeks stained red.

"You s-said this damn thing couldn't be platonic, so we might as well," she stammered out. Ohhhhh. I smiled and grabbed her hand gently. I could tell she really didn't like this idea because she literally almost stayed as far away as our arms could extend together. I tried to ignore that as I asked her another question to distract her discomfort.

"So, what happened this morning?" I inquired curiously. She groaned and turned to me. "I really don't even want to talk about it. It was just too much," she explained quickly.

"What happened, did they airbend you awake or something?" I joked, but she turned to me with a look of shock and irritation. Holy crap, I was right? I laughed and I saw her become more agitated. "Shut up, it isn't very comfortable being slammed _into_ the wall with an large gust of wind!" she snapped. I couldn't help but chuckle more at that comment, even though it did sound painful.

"Try waking up with something licking your face," I countered, still laughing. She turned to me with a questioning expression but then a mischievous grin slid across her face.

"Cheating now, are we?" Really? Did she really just ask that? I felt myself gape a bit, and she laughed in response, her laughter chiming throughout the silent street.

"Am not!" I protested, her eyeing me in response. Oh well, at least she doesn't look like she's about to kill me again. But just when I thought this morning would get a little better.

"Hello there, Mako," I heard a very familiar voice say, drawling out the words slowly. I saw Korra look up at me confused and we turned to see one of the worst egotistical douchebags, also the only one in school who uses guyliner and absorbs 3 bottles of gel into his hair each day. Tahno.

Mornings. Don't you just love them?

**A/N: END! Dear god, that was so hard to write, what with school assignments already lining up my time T.T BTW, the song used in this chapter was Tonight by FM Static, I don't own it. Guys, I'm sorry this chapter was brief and sucky but I wanted some comedy relief, you know? xD I really really really REALLY hope you liked this chapter, and guys, it would mean the WORLD to me, if I could get a lot of reviews this time, I tried really hard, I did. Well guys, Ima go, I really hope you liked this chapter.!~**


	13. Neglect

**A/N: I DID IT! :D I finally wrote the next chapter guys! Please be happy I did, it was hard T.T CMON EVERYONE PLEASE TRY AND REVIEW! I worked hard on this, so let me get some feedback from you guys! C: Well, here it is~ **

**Korra's POV:**

"Hello there, Mako," I heard a rather snobbish voice say behind us. I turned to see a group of guys standing there; the one standing closest to us scrutinizing me, well, my _body_ very closely. Something tells me I'm not going to like this guy.

He was a generally good looking guy, with his slick black hair falling just a bit unnaturally to the side, but contrasting well with his pale-as-snow skin. He was more of an albino than Mako. And that's saying a _lot_.

I could kind of infer that he fancied the color black. How do I know this? Well, from his gray vans to his black collared shirt, you probably couldn't tell the difference between him and an overcast night; well, except for his pale ass skin, of course. Shit, he even wore black eyeliner, which I'm not exactly averse to. It suited him well.

But even with his somewhat good looks, there seemed to be a rather ominous aura about him; but the way Mako's eyes flared a tint of red, and the way his hand tensed considerably around mine at a moment's look at him, that immediately confirmed my suspicions. Mako quickly changed his bothered demeanor and made an indifferent expression, becoming completely reticent. He has quite the hostility towards this guy.

"Tahno," Mako replied curtly. So that's his name. Hmm, why does it sound familiar… it's a water tribe name! Well, the guy Tahno walked a little closer with open arms, his gray eyes bright with a glint of mischief.

"And here I was thinking you would be your usual brooding, mundane self. But I see you've finally made a friend, a very lovely one I might add," he commended, keenly slipping his hand around my open one, lifting it up.

I saw Mako's golden eyes flare a bit as they flickered towards his hand circling mine. Tahno noticed, the corners of his mouth pulling up with smug delight. Contentious much, isn't he?

"And what might your name be?" he inquired politely, his gray eyes fixated wholly on me. I'm not going to lie, even with his amicable approach, he's still pretty creepy. Well actually, he looks just plain creepy up close altogether. Creeper. That's his new nickname. I decided to go with Mako's approach to him.

"Korra," I answered simply, . His eyes went a little wide with shock, but then they became skeptical.

"The avatar?" he questioned cynically, letting my hand fall from his grasp. God dammit I'm so tired of that question. It was fun the first week and a half I was here, but after two months, it can get pretty aggravating. But what bothered me the most was how he asked me; like I wasn't important either way.

"Yes, _the_ avatar," I answered, making it sound like he shouldn't forget it. His eyebrows rose, but not in a surprising way. He took the smallest step towards me, giving me a condescending smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss avatar. Not much of an "all powerful savior" are you?" he taunted, shoving his hands in his jean pockets.

What did he just say to _me_? What the hell did that mean!? I really didn't want to start an argument at this time of morning; Spirits knows how tired I am. But I'll be damned if I'm going to stand here and let this guy degrade me. I stepped towards him with a dark glare in my eyes.

"What was that?" I asked in an almost deathly tone, hands clenched into fists at my sides...just in case. His smile only grew wider and his eyes growing brighter. He backed up a bit and put on a little astonished expression.

"Oh, you didn't know? My dear, of all people-" he started, circling me as he continued.

"you should know. You've been hiding in the snow your whole life, fooling around and attempting to master the elements; while, I bet, not even considering about how corrupt the world is becoming with each passing day. Everyone, waiting in false hope for the young avatar to bring the world peace."

He stopped and looked down at me with distaste, his finger coiling around the strands of stray hair. "Pathetic," he spat, pulling his hand back from me.

I was shaking with anger, my fists almost _white_ from clenching them so long. I am _NOT _pathetic. I felt my arm rise up and my fist fly towards his face. I never did learn restraint. He evaded my hit by just a hair, and held up a hand, like he was trying to halt me.

"Now now, before you do anything brash, hear me out," he said in a calm tone, still retaining his cool demeanor. I could feel my skin almost _burn_ when he said that. I threw another hit at him and this time, he side-stepped it and grabbed my forearm and leaned in towards my face, like he was going to continue.

"Tahno!" I heard Mako shout, making a beeline towards him. Tahno's eyes left mine and went towards him with a threatening look.

"Calm down, street-bitch, I'm not going to hurt her," he barked, but letting go of my arm. I was going to plummet this guy to the ground before he held up his hand with one finger extended as if to make a point, and said

"I'm going to give you a little review of what's been brewing in the world since your absence, little avatar. There have been more uprisings about inequality than there are hairs on my head. There have been riots, fights, boycotts, you name it. Now, you can't expect four, old councilmen to settle this dilemma. The _avatar_ is supposed to bring peace. So, while you were off penguin sledding in the south pole, the world has been desperately calling for your "words of compromise."

The...the _world_ has been needing me? These words slowly sunk in through my skull, freezing my every movement completely as he boldly began to walk closer to me.

"Now, that isn't even the only problem. There have been many more situations the world has been waiting for you to solve." He was now leaned down towards my face, when he said

"Look at you. You haven't even learned all the elements yet. The last avatar saved the world when he was child. How do you expect to save anything when you're held down by three lowly scum in an alleyway?"

At this moment, I didn't even care that he knew about that little incident. The world needed me for so long and I wasn't there to help... I even _knew_. The White Lotus men have been saying this my whole life but I never took them seriously. As it already seems, the world is a bit too late to bring peace. And its all my fault... He continued looking down at me in contempt.

"Think about what you've neglected, avat-" he began to say before Mako grabbed him by his neck and threw him to the ground. Tahno yelped in pain and began to push himself off the ground when his little friends came up and helped him. Tahno glared at Mako, but he wasn't intimidated. Mako went right up on him and jabbed a finger at him. What is he doing?

"_You_ listen to _me_ now, you hypocritical fuck. You're the one to talk! People like you are the cause of all the bullshit in the world! You go around, using defenseless people as your play toys; and the sad thing is, there are millions more people like you in the world. So before you go around degrading others for what they've done wrong, look in the mirror and fix your own damn selfw." He yelled, his body shaking with an anger of his own. He then whirled around, grabbed my hand a little roughly and pulled me along with him. Shit just went down.

"Let's go, Korra," He growled, obviously not wanting to get in a further fight. I looked back to see Tahno's "friends" about to try and fight Mako but Tahno held them back, whispering something I couldn't hear. He noticed me looking and gave me a wickedly creepy smile, waving at me.

"See you around, Uh-vatar," he said to me. I'm am going to fuck this guy up as soon as I get the chance. But as much as I wanted to pummel that guy, the only thing I can think of is how wrong it would be if I did. While everything he said _was_ insulting, it was also true. Plus, I wouldn't be bringing much peace if I did murder the fuck, would I?

I have neglected my duties. I wasn't there when I was needed. I failed. I failed...I felt tears pricking at my eyes. No. No, Korra, you aren't going to cry. You're better than that. I quickly wiped away the tears with the back of my hand as Mako continued dragging me along with him and his fast pace. I felt my hand begin to sear with pain, and I looked down at it and realized Mako was literally _seething_ with anger. This snapped me out of my epiphany for a short moment.

"Mako! Mako, you're burning me!" I shouted, trying to pull my hand out of his iron grasp. He looked down at our hands and released it, his eyes apologizing. I shook my hand in the air like crazy; stupidly depending on the humid air to cool it down. I blowed at it a few times and then took time to observe the damage. It was a dark pink, but nothing serious. No second degree burn. Hey, at least I'm being optimistic.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that, it just happens sometimes, sorry..." Mako apologized repeatedly, gently grabbing my hand to examine it as well. I winced a bit at the pressure and jerked it back a bit. He pulled back as well and put his hands up again, like he was surrendering. "Sorry!" Usually, I'd laugh, seeing his flustered expression. But today really just wasn't my day.

"It's fine, calm down," I snapped, walking past him. It's all my fault...this is all I can think about. It's all my fault. I heard him fasten his pace to catch up with me. I then felt him grab my shoulder and I looked over at him. The look in his eyes was understanding and apologetic and...guilty. Why?

"Hey, don't listen to him. He's just a bitch that goes around talking shit to others to make himself better, because as creepy and stupid as he looks, he has to try and find some kind of comfort." That little comment made me smile, but it didn't really push that feeling of guilt out of my mind. I hugged my arms to my chest and avoided his eyes.

"He's right, you know..." I muttered. I felt his hand leave my shoulder. "No. He's not. Korra, you're still learning the elements. You need to realize that nobody can accomplish everything. Sure, Avatar Aang was a little young when he had to save the world. But even he didn't master all the elements when he saved it. So I'm sure if the world came to that, you'd be able to do it." My eyes flickered up to him, a little wide in shock. He has faith in me..? He smiled at me and enclosed my hand in his.

"Don't worry about it. You're here now, so peace is still possible in this city. As long as you stop being so damn violent," he teased, elbowing me gently. I let a small giggle fall out. I need at least a moment of some kind of happiness...only for a bit.

"Alright Mako, stop kissing ass and walk faster, we got school," I teased back, running a bit ahead of him to avoid getting slapped. I looked back to see him with the funniest "what the fuck" expression on his face and laughed so hard at it.

"What the hell, Korra!?" He shouted, but I could see he knew it was a joke. At least he wasn't _that_ dim-witted. I walked back to him, giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm just kidding. But thanks a lot, Mako," I thanked, giving him a small smile. He smiled back and shoved his hands in his pockets. "No problem. But look, if that guy comes fucking around with you again, tell me. I'll deal with him myself. Okay?" he requested. Something tells me he already has a bone to pick with this guy. I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Why? I have a score to settle with this guy too," I explained. Looks like we're going to be arguing about who's going to fight the creeper. Mako put both hands on my shoulders, looking very earnestly at me.

"Listen, you already hate the guy, right?" I didn't understand where he was going with this, but I nodded. "Well, I've been having to deal with this guy since I was a little kid. Think about how _I _feel about this guy." Oh. My. God. I would've murdered him by now. HOW DOES HE HAVE THIS MUCH TOLERANCE!? I hate to say it, but I guess I'm going to let him fight him. I'm changing, huh?

"Ugh, fine, you can have him," I huffed, giving in. He smiled at me and became less tense. What? Is he _that_ much of a problem? Does he think I can't handle the guy? "Thanks, Korra," he said sincerely. Wow, he really _loathes_ him. Wait...he said he's known him since they were kids so...

"Is Tahno in the Triple Th-" I started to say before he abruptly covered my mouth, silencing me. I stared at him, agitated and confused. I began yelling. He told me to shh as he looked around us, like he was seeing if the coast was clear. What the hell is he doing? Sick of the suspense, I did something that I know would make him stop muffling me. I licked him. Yes, I licked his fucking hand, don't judge me!

"Auggh!" he yelled, jerking his hand back real fast and wiped it off on his pants. He stared at his hand like I gave him Hepatitis C or some shit. I snickered, trying to hold back a laugh so I can ask what he was doing.

"What the he- did you lick me!?" he exclaimed. Okay, I couldn't help it. I literally fell down laughing. "Y-yes, I did," I managed to say between my insane laughter. "Why!?" he asked incredulously. Oh my goodness, he is too much!

"Mako, you are such a girl, calm down. Now, why did you do that?" I asked after finally calming my laughter a little bit, holding onto his shoulder for support. He rolled his eyes at my first comment.

"Okay, first off, that was fucked up." I grinned.

"Second off, talking about the, well," he said, leaning in towards me.

"The Triple Threats, in public will either get you interrogated by cops or shot by another gang," he whispered. To be honest, I didn't really understand. I've lived in the south pole my whole life and everything there was pretty peaceful. I heard of gangs on the radio every once in awhile but never thought anything of it. Sure, Asami gave me a few head ups about gangs when we hung out together, but nothing about talking about it in public.

"Why?" I asked. I sounded so innocent and stupid, I hated not knowing important things. He huffed a little exasperatedly. He looked up in thought, stroking his chin.

"How can I explain this... okay, this...gang is like Fight Club. Do you understand now?" Still confused. I kind of blinked slowly a few times and slowly shook my head. He slapped his hand on his face, dragging it down agonizingly. I kind of giggled a bit. Why do I feel like such a five-year-old? After pulling himself together, he finally explained it.

"Korra, just don't talk about it outside, like in school, in the middle of the street, _especially_ not in the middle of the street, or anywhere open. Okay?" Oh.

"Alright, you could've just said that, you know." I said. Apparently, I made him more frustrated; he began blabbering and making unnecessary hand convulsions. Ya know, he's kinda cute when he's mad. WOAH. Korra, watch yourself. This relationship is fake. Remember that. I can't afford to mess anything else up... I tried avoiding those thoughts by asking a more important question.

"What time is it?" What? We were supposed to be going to school, I need to know the time! Mako ignored his recent frustration and looked at his wrist watch. His face suddenly became impossibly paler after doing so. He grabbed my hand and literally _dragged_ me with him. Was it _that_ late?

"Hey! You going- to answer me- or what?" I managed to say from running so fast. It took him a bit, trying to regain breath and all, but he eventually answered me.

"Its - 7:55," he replied. Holy fuck, we're going to be late! Class starts at eight! I'm just ruining everything... Tenzin is going to give me hell. He told me he would be checking in with my progress every so often. Every so often equals every two weeks. And if I mess up in school, guess who I'm going to report to? Mr. Tarrcock. I am _not_ missing school. Not today.

Soon enough, I was the one dragging Mako, I ran so fast. Too extreme of me? Not. At. All. In a matter of about three minutes, we were barely standing at the front of the school, trying to catch our breath.

"Since when you did learn to _fly?_" Mako joked, despite being breathless. I rolled my eyes and ignored it. We both just barely made it inside Ms. Beifong's room before the final bell rang. She gave us both a steely glare but I didn't care.

"Nice to see you finally made it, Ms. Mitsuko," Ms. Beifong said in a stern tone. I stopped in my tracks, almost making it to my seat. I turned to her.

"Um, yes, Ms. Beifong," I replied awkwardly. Something tells me she's going to be a bitch about me not being early.

"I expect that you be a bit early next time. Because next time, I won't be so kind to leave the door open a few seconds late. No excuses either. This is your first and final warning. Do I make myself clear?" This bitch _loathes_ me. I haven't even _done_ anything to her! I was already really agitated but I didn't want to make my day worse. So even though my hands were clenched at my sides, I took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Yes, Ms. Beifong," I answered in the kindest voice I could muster and even managed to pull a small, fake smile. I quickly made it to my seat, noticing all the stares I was getting. "Take a fucking picture, it'll last longer," I muttered darkly as I sat in my designated seat. Just as Ms. Beifong was going to start the day's lesson, a knock on the wooden door interrupted her. She looked over at it, a little irritated. The door opened a bit and a scrawny looking old man popped his head through the small open crack of the door. He had gray, almost white hair, huge glasses and a somewhat dorky outfit.

He gave Ms. Beifong an apologetic look and walked in slowly. "I apologize for the interruption but I was ordered to find the avatar Korra. Would she happen to be in this class?" What does he want with me? Ms. Beifong's eyes flickered over to me and then back to him, looking at him a little skeptically but then she jabbed a thumb over towards me. "She's over there," she answered simply. The awkward looking man turned towards me, and then bowed.

"It's an honor to meet you, avatar Korra," he said with pure sincerity. This only increased the amount of intense stares I was getting. Thanks a lot, old guy. I felt myself sinking down into my chair again, as if that would make the incessant stares stop. The man then straightened up and coughed, continuing.

"I despise having to interrupt your morning lesson, but it seems that Mr. Tarrlok has quite the urgency to speak with you. If you would, please follow me down to his office."

Fuck. My. Life.

**A/N: HO. LY. FUCK. TAHNO 2.0 XD I absolutely LOVE how Tahno turned out in this one. You see, I wanted to make him sorta like his old self, except he speaks more intelligent, is somewhat attractive and gets under people's skin. Sound like someone else we all know and love..? **

**You guessed it: IZAYA ORIHARA! I love that man so much xD. Lol, nah, Izaya's more badass :P speaking of cursing, yes, there were LOTS of that in this one. Korra is just NOT having a good day. Neither is Mako. SO you can't blame them~ But anyways, guys, from this point on, the REAL plot it going to start. Things will finally get...interesting ;) so, everyone who was still interested in reading this story, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! And guests on this site, don't be shy, I'd love to hear from you too! :) I'm so happy to have finally written the next chapter, and I hope you are too, so pleaseeeee review :) Thanks for reading, I love you all~~~ Serena**


	14. Trapped

**A/N: Please don't hate me. ;_; you will not believe all the bullcrap I've been getting! I mean school work by the way. It's just absolutely terrible! Then I got terribly sick and plus, I haven't been doing so hot in school, so, I've been having to stick my nose to the books. BUT CHRISTMAS BREAK IS HERE and so is the next chapter! :D**

**I've also been trying to brush up on my writing skills too, and making the setting a bit more descriptive in the story, so I really hope you'll enjoy that change :)!**

**It's going to be a lot longer than my other chapters, so I hope this will suffice for lost time...maybe not... :/ But I really hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review!**

**Merry Christmas/Christmas Eve!**

**DISCLAIMER: Again, I don't own anything related to the Legend of Korra.**

**Mako's POV**

Damn it all! Of course Tahno would show up when least expected to screw everything up! I should've been more aware. It's like he knows when I'm slightest bit happy, and appears out of the blue to lacerate what small amount of bliss remains for me. I couldn't analyze the whole situation thoroughly at the moment, seeing how I was literally near to being dragged by Korra, who was running at the speed of 300 miles per hour.

I don't know why, but a few seconds after I mentioned the time, she ran at avatar state speed. She doesn't seem like the kind of person to care much for school, what's got her worried? Hell, like I was going to be able to ask. I can barely breathe as it is. Soon enough, we were standing at the front of the school, close to having to hold on to each other for support.

"Since when did you learn to _fly_?" I barely puffed out, trying to lighten the mood. Despite her heavy breathing, she glanced over at me, rolling her eyes and laughing roughly. She reluctantly heaved her back off the tainted white walls of the school and threw the door open, hauling ass once she was inside. I really wanted to ask what was up, but it's like they say: curiosity killed the cat. Ha. I guess I learned that the hard way.

We made our ways up to class, just making it as the bell rang. I saw Bolin look over at me, raising a questionable eyebrow, but grinning. Great. He's assuming things again. This is going to be a _long _day.

I felt a cold glare boring into my back as I walked to my designated seat. I didn't bother to look back. I'm hoping to deal with lectures later; not now. "Nice to see you finally made it, Ms. Mitsuko," I heard Ms. Beifong say, calling Korra out specifically. What the heck? Why not me? As I sat down, I looked to see Korra frozen in her steps, gripping at her bag with an exasperated expression on her face.

"Um, yes, Ms. Beifong." I expected a different answer, but she's actually refraining from using flippant responses. Impressive.

"I expect that you be a bit early next time. Because next time, I won't be so kind as to leave the door open a few seconds late. No excuses either. This is your first and final warning. Do I make myself clear?" she mandated, her tone of voice extremely acidic. I could feel the tension from across the room, and I just knew she was going to explode any minute. But surprisingly, she just took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she answered "Yes, Ms. Beifong," her voice tinged with frustration. And here I was thinking she had zero tolerance. Interesting.

She then finally made it to her seat, noting all the stares around her. I know it's only the second day but sheesh, have some kind of decency to be distinct about staring; it seemed to really be getting to her. I saw her lips move, muttering something I couldn't make out. I didn't really bother to ask, seeing as how class was about to start.

I felt the thoughts of the infuriating, early morning events reach me and I felt myself searching for a distraction; my eyes fell on Korra. Just like yesterday, (not like anything has changed) she looked gorgeous; despite her agitated expression. Her hair was put up into a high pony tail, her bangs looking a bit damp and tousled from the long run. She wore a purple shirt, which revealed most of the flawless contours of her back and dark blue jeans that fit perfectly at each curve.

I felt someone elbow my arm and I looked over to see Bolin, with a mischievous half-grin, nodding towards my desk. I looked down to see a small post-it note slapped on my desk, with the familiar sloppy handwriting scrawled on it.

"_Taking notes, are we? ;D - Bolin_" Okay, the incessant taunts from him are beginning to turn into a real bitch.

I felt my face burn at reading this, turning to Bolin with an incredulous look. He tried covering up his snickering by pretending to cough violently, but with a smile stained on his face. I didn't mean to stare. My hand temporarily covered my face as I rubbed my temples hard. Such a frustrating morning. As I balled up the note, I looked up from the desk to see Korra turn her eyes to me for a split second before the sound of knocking at the door caught her attention.

Spirits, help them. From what I've seen so far, the teach flips at the slightest interruption. I saw Ms. Beifong's head turn abruptly to the door at the first knock, glaring at it. The door was then opened by a scraggly looking man with a really strange outfit; he must be one of the principal's new co-workers. I haven't seen him around much and plus Mr. Tarrlok choses new assistants every year, it seems. He glanced to Ms. Beifong with an apologetic look in his eyes, and then quickly averted them to the class.

"I apologize for the interruption, but I was ordered to find avatar Korra. Would she happen to be in this class?" the man asked, looking around the room as if the avatar would have some physically indistinct attribute unlike the rest; kind of like Avatar Aang, I suppose. Well, obviously she's different when it comes to her looks, bu- shut up, Mako.

"She's over there." I looked to see Ms. Beifong with the same agitated look, her thumb pointed directly at Korra. Korra looked on at the old man with genuine confusion clouding her face. It looks so adorabl- GRR. STAHP IT.

The man then turned towards Korra, and stiffened his arms by his sides, bowing to her. "It's an honor to meet you, avatar Korra," he proclaimed. He must really support the avatar, wow. Korra then began sliding slowly down into her seat, like yesterday. All the attention and pressure must be getting to her.

The man went back to his original posture, coughing a bit to regain his formal tone.

"I despise having to interrupt your morning lesson, but it seems that Mr. Tarrlok has quite the urgency to speak with you. If you would, please follow me down to his office." Geez, did she mess up already? Last I remembered, she left immediately after school and I didn't hear anything about her in trouble. Well, besides that incident after school...

I guess she didn't really have a clue either, by the incredulous anger that stroke her face as soon as the man finished his sentence. She really must've not expected that today. But why would you overdramatise over going to the office? I've heard Mr. Tarrlok can be a dick, but seriously. Despite her extreme reluctance, she stood obediently and walked towards the front of the room. Ms. Beifong crossed her arms, eyeing Korra as she went.

"You'll be expected to find notes some way for your absence, Mitsuko," she said expectantly. Gosh, what is her problem? I saw Korra's eyes literally twitch at that but she held her temper in, somehow. "Understood," she muttered nearly under her breath. She glanced back at me again, holding her gaze this time. I gave her a questioning look, wondering what the heck was going on. She just shrugged her shoulders and gave a confused look as well. She then turned as the man opened the door, bowing slightly as he gestured out the door.

"After you, Ms. Avatar," the man said politely. Even with his kind gesture, she looks pissed off, literally close to stomping out the door. The man gave a small apologetic smile to the class once more and closed the door silently behind him.

_Very _confusing, I might say. Oh well, it looks like I've to save the questions for later.

As the class began, I felt my mind linger once again on my anger and frustration towards Tahno. He had no right whatsoever to condescend Korra like that.

And as much as I wanted to hurt him, for my own particular reasons might I add, I can't. Let's just say that Tahno is second to the boss in the Triple Threats. Hell, I could get mutilated for what I said and done today. He just has that much control. I have no clue why though; he's absolutely abominable and infuriating to everyone in the gang, except the chief.

Because despite his abhorrent personality, he's the most powerful asset we have. Enviable by every other triad out there. And although he's pretty incompetent physically likewise when it comes to combat, he can handle himself surprisingly very well with simple pocket knife.

He's somewhat of an informant...scratch that, he can pretty much find out everything about anyone. I'm surprised he even pretended to be uninformed about Korra or her status as the avatar. Delusive little bastard.

So basically, no matter how much I hate him, we need him, so he's staying for good. End of story.

Still. I hate the way he acted towards Korra. But... I don't think it's just how Tahno unjustly condemned her that bothered me. I mean, it's bothering me a little more than it's supposed to. Maybe because of a secondary reason that is too dangerous to touch. Like I said. I can't let emotions cloud my judgement.

Anyways, gangs today cause the majority of the anxiety of non-benders. They not only ridicule and take advantage of them, but they threaten, bully, extort, hurt and even kill them sometimes. I would've thought that he knew this fact all too well, so why would he be so hypocritical as to push all the blame on her?

Wait...who am_ I _to blame him for this?... Hell, I'm a part of this gang. So, really, I have no legitimate support in my point. But I'm forced to cooperate.. Either way, I participate in creating more havoc. Which, in a sad way of thinking about it, makes me...

A hypocrite. A detestable hypocrite.

"...Bro. Bro!" I snapped out of my dismal daze to see Bolin looking at me with concern. I looked up and around me to see people crowded in small groups, hearing many voices blend together in the room.

"You alright?"

I hesitated a bit before replying. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. We doing group work now or something?"

"Yeah. Apparently, we got to do some online-assignment group work."

Oh goody. I made my face reticent once again, for Bolin's sake. I can't have him worrying anymore... at least, not for now.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Korra's POV  
**  
I hate owing people. It's one of the worst burdens to bear. If I had just beat guys up in time, I wouldn't be in this mess. I felt a long trail of profanity run through my head as I followed behind the man to Tarrlok's office.

Overall, everything was silent down the halls, considering how the majority of the people here were in class. The only sounds audible were the light padding of the feeble man's feet and my heavy tread down the lengthy halls. I noticed the man would glance over at me from time to time with a worried look. I guess I must look really pissed, huh? I heard the man's light-hearted chuckle and looked to see amusement in his eyes. "Don't repine, dear. You're in no trouble at all," he assured. I stopped in my tracks.

Korra, bite your tongue. It isn't his fault. After inhaling and exhaling deeply, I asked through clenched teeth with a struggled smile "So what does he want me for?" Again, he plastered another grand smile on his face.

"You'll see." Great. Another one of Tarrlok's spontaneous schemes.

Soon enough, we were at a door which was supposedly the principal's office. Supposedly. But it didn't suit Tarlokk's flamboyant sense of style. His offices often contain lavish furniture and extravagant decor; whereas, the room I was presently standing in distinctly resembled an average waiting room.

There was two windows in the room, each of which were veiled by red curtains that were currently pulled back to reveal the bright sunlight of the outdoors. The walls were perfect white, the cream-colored tiled floors the same as the rest of the building. There were two small mahogany wooden tables placed with two wooden chairs between, and outside them. I looked in front of me to see a thick, wooden table with an epidemic of papers cluttered together in several piles along with other substantial office supplies, personal family photos, and a young man amongst the pile, scribbling away diligently. I then saw a small, quaint looking name card on his desk, saying "Iroh." _The _Iroh? No, it couldn't be. He wouldn't be working at a place like this. He looked up at us, finally sensing our presence after some short while.

He's...wow. He resembles Mako, in some small ways. He has pale skin, and raven black hair slicked strictly into place, but had stray tuffs of hair that had fallen out of place here and there, probably from working so long. He has golden eyes that were hard with intensity, a square jawline and an expression that was pretty hard-set. He wore black collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up halfway, and a red tie to compliment it. The man at the desk stood abruptly.

"Can I help you?" the man asked, his voice stern but...smooth. The old guy stepped forward to answer.

"I was told that Tarrlok wished to speak with a...student. Please inform him that she has arrived." The man then bowed once more before closing the door behind him. Huh. I wonder why he didn't tell him about me being that Avatar. Strange. I walked over and sat on one of the chairs, mulling over whether or not I should just ditch, right here and now.

I have my reasons for having such strong hostility against the well-appreciated councilman. Yes, he's polite, charming and respectful. But so is any other political figure in public. It's just a front he puts on and eventually, all masks have to fall some time or another.

His, has yet to fall.

But it is breaking. Slowly, but surely.

He's gotten into the knack of putting me into unpleasant situations. Making me join a secret task force that was completely futile, making me attend a public school instead of a getting a regular tutor, which also hinders me from my airbending practice. Not to mention all the snarky insults he gives me. I'm getting pretty damn sick of it.

And he seems to enjoy it too. Having the power and expert manipulation to do these things. That pretentious, conniving piece of sh- "You okay over there?" I snapped up from my thoughts to see the young man looking at me with a slightly amused expression and a small grin sliding across his lips.

I felt my face heat up a little with embarrassment. I didn't realize I'd been glaring at the ground the whole time. I rubbed the back of my head a little sheepishly and gave him a small, fake smile. "Hehe, yeah, I'm alright."

He rose a wary eyebrow. "You sure about that? I mean, I understand that our esteemed councilman isn't exactly the most... scrupulous person, but you look as if you're about to battle against the legendary Unagi," the intolerably, smooth voiced man joked with a light chuckle following it. I felt myself laugh along on instinct, accepting the man's attempt in lightening up the dark mood I was creating around me.

"Are you kidding? I've seen vicious, flying lemurs more scrupulous than him!" I joked back, feeling my mood become a little lighter. Another laugh escaped us both, and I felt the air become more normal.

"So, what brings you here today?" he asked curiously. Fuck if I know. I groaned a little unintentionally. "Heck if I know. I was called up without an explanation, which is usual, coming from schools. But I'm not sure," I answered honestly.

"Well, I'm sure it isn't anything too terribly bad," he said, trying to cheer me up.

Yeah. It isn't anything terrible. But I'm sure as hell _he _will make it seem that way.

"Meh." I shrugged and began to refocus my vision on the floor, going back to my previous thoughts.

"Oh, please excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is Iroh," He said while standing and giving a small bow. "and I take it that you're the avatar, yes?" Ju- wait. How does he know?

"Uhm, yeah. How do you know that? So far, everyone I've met didn't exactly know who I am, seeing as how Tenzin has tried his best to keep my appearance confidential from the majority of the publics' knowledge. All they know is my name..." I asked, a little cautiously. He blinked, a little surprised. Then he chuckled, and gave an assuring smile.

"Forgive me for being blunt, but I glanced at the inscription of your name on your bag when you walked in," he answered, laughing a bit more at seeing me snatch my bag and search for my name.

And sure as hell, it was there. As conspicuous as neon lights, written in the familiar, southern water tribe symbols. I really need to pay more attention to these types of things.

"Impressive deductive skills," I joked, giving a small grin. He grinned as well, signing off a paper on his desk.

"So, what's the honorable Iroh doing here in our little city? I'd have thought you would be off on some secret mission." I saw him flinch but he sat up and gave another small smile. "Councilm- I mean, Principal Tarrlok asked for my assistance on an important mission, yes, and of course, I leapt right to the opportunity. But this," he said, motioning towards all the paperwork. "Is not exactly what I had in mind," he said with the slightest hint of a pout. Ohhh. So this is just an errand Tarrlok threw in along with the mission. Yup. Sounds like him alright.

"Ah, sorry about that."

He shrugged, "I'll get through it," he assured. He seems like a really cool guy.

I heard another door open on the opposite side of the room and it revealed the too well-known Tarrlok with a wide grin. "Ah, Avatar Korra, so very nice to see you," he proclaimed, bowing down courteously. "Please, come this way," he said, holding the door open. I sighed and grabbed my bag, glancing at Iroh. He gave another small, encouraging smile. I smiled slightly and walked inside the room that was surely going to be my personal hell for the day.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Mako's POV**

"Study chapter 3 notes tonight. You're dismissed."

I picked up the papers and books, shoving them into my bag. Geez, Korra's been gone throughout the whole class period. Lucky. I wonder what was so important she had to skip a whole class. As I walked out the door, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Bolin with yet another mischievous smile. "You seemed more broody than usual today, Mako. Were you missing your soul mate?" He teased. Ugh. I huffed in frustration.

"Bolin, for the last time, stop it with all the crazy taunts. Besides, we can't even be legitimately classified as soul mates, we just got together," I clarified. His grin only grew wider. "Ah, maybe not now. But I can just smell a glorious love forming between you two already, I just know it," He said in a lovey dovey voice, hugging his arms around his torso and swinging himself from side to side. Geez.

"Bolin, c'mon bro, that's enough," I repeated, the slightest bit exasperated. Bolin guffawed and swung an arm around my neck. "Calm down, bro, I'm just messing. I'm really happy that you finally found someone else. I really am," he said, smiling a genuine smile. He really is the greatest. I returned the smile. "Thanks lil' bro."

"No prob!" he chirped. He then abruptly wrapped his arm tighter around my neck, almost choking me and shaking his hand through my hair again, messing it up.

"Hey!" I shouted in protest, even though I was grinning. He laughed. "Now, who's the best brother in the world? Go on and say it! I know you want to," he said, his hold becoming slightly tighter and tighter every second. I chuckled. "Alright alright, you are, now let me go!" I barely choked out, and he let go. For him always being the protected one, he's surprisingly pretty strong.

"Mako." I heard a painfully familiar voice call behind me. Simultaneously we turned to see none other than Tahno a few feet away, leaned against the lockers with a scowl. Ugh, I've had enough of this guy already. I immediately tensed up, and stepping forward, showing a small sign of defense for Bolin to keep him out of whatever he was going to start. I don't care if there was to be an all-out battle between me and ten other people from the gang, I'd keep him out of it. So far, I've done well in protecting him from the Triple Threats' tyranny. I won't let that stop now. Once again, I made an aloof exterior, shoving my hands in my pockets.

"Yeah?"

"We need to have a little chat," he affirmed in a grave tone. I saw Bolin try to advance forward with a hostile look in his eyes, looking like he was about to say something. I put my hand in front of him, hindering him from going any further. Bolin already knew that I didn't like Tahno too much, for reasons like how he always calls me out for petty things like my appearance or what I do, plus he's just a total douchebag anyways, so it's not like many people enjoy his presence.

But I put on a fake smile, for his sake. "You can go on without me. Go on and talk it up with Korra while you're there," I suggested. His eyes flickered over to Tahno, then me, but he nodded and turned, leaving us behind. Ugh, I might as well get this done and over with. I dropped my bag to the floor and sighed.

"So, what's up?" I started off, sounding more like I was starting up a more amicable conversation than what was expected. Yeah, it's a bad start, but oh well. Tahno laughed darkly and moved a few steps closer to me, almost in my personal space.

"Oh, nothing much. I'm just wondering what in hell were you thinking this morning. I'm torn between wondering if you have a death wish or if you really are just that ignorant. But I couldn't decide, so, how about you tell me so as to clarify?" he said, sounding more sinister than usual. Hm, should I go with honesty and tell him off, or just back down like a bitch and start apologizing like every other member does? I took a deep breath and began talking.

"Well, to be completely frank, you _was _being a huge hypocrite." Well, I can't stop now. Fuck. "I mean, we all know that people who take unjust advantage of their bending, like you, cause all of this mess, right?" Yep, I'm screwed. I expected something along the lines of cursing or some attempt to cause physical damage. But no. He just chuckled and looked at me with amused smirk.

"You never have failed to surprise me, Mako. I like you for that. But, you must admit, there are some holes in your point."

I had a feeling this was coming. "You say that the world's dilemma is caused by violent gangs, or as you said, people like me. But what about you? You are at fault just as much as-"

"Look, I already knew that much, but that doesn't change the fact that pushing all of your wicked deeds on her was completely wrong," I snapped. Again, he laughed. "Well, I think it's safe to say that you have already developed some feelings for this girl, hm? Even if they are minor right now...you wouldn't want replay of that last tragic event, would you? I didn't think so."

I became angry as he referenced to the Sato's (almost) mugging. Before I could respond, he did something strange. He sighed, sounding disappointed somehow. "But, I think we can avoid that. It had a terrible outcome anyways." Something isn't right. What's he up to now?

Then I knew something terrible was going to happen when I saw those heartless, gray eyes grow bright, probably with a bad idea that just came to his mind. He began walking closer to me, again with me tensing up in response. Again, he surprised by just placing a hand on my shoulder, and giving me what was supposed to be a somewhat friendly smile.

"Have fun with your little girlfriend... while it lasts." He said, growling the last part as he brushed past me. What..?

"Oh, I almost forgot." I heard him say behind me. I turned. "Be at the hideout tonight. Zolt wants to have a long conversation with you. It's about... upcoming plans." He informed with a wicked smile. "See you then," he said, finally leaving. I found myself just standing there, in total shock, and confusion. This isn't going to be good. I have the most familiar premonition...just like last time, when Asami almost got mugged. And just like last time... I might be the cause of it. Ugh! I'm so sick of this repetitive cycle of being forced into doing people's dirty work. I'm sick of feeling controlled.

I'm sick of being trapped.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Korra's POV**

"Have a seat," Tarrlok insisted, gesturing me to a chair. With a silent sigh, I reluctantly sat in the well-furnished seat, dropping my bag to the tiled floor with a thud. I took in my surroundings; yeah, this fits Tarrlok's style perfectly. The walls were a dark blue with what looked like the changing currents of water engraved into the walls, swirling around in a never ending dance. The windows were different from the rest of the building; rather than being just glass, it was adorned in rectangular shapes intertwining with each other, with a gold-like color trimming the material. On the ceiling hung a huge chandelier, made entirely out of crystal clear glass; and around the room were several wall lamps, carved with intricate designs. On the walls were an array of frames, all of which either contained newspaper clippings of his achievements, or the occasional portrait of fellow accomplices and friends. On the opposite of the excessively spacious room stood a single, dark brown desk with the water tribe symbols revolving all around the edges. Who funds all this shit for a simple office?

"I see you've found the need to upgrade your office," I pointed out dryly. He chuckled. "Quite impressive, is it not?" he asked with a proud smile. Impressive? More like straight up ridiculous.

"Absolutely striking," I replied, prolonging each word without bothering to veil my sarcasm. I've yet to look at that unbearably smug face of his. Another annoying chuckle followed. "Ah Korra, no need for the theatrics. After all, this little session may take a while." I knew it.

I uttered a long, exasperated groan, gave in and sat up, crossing my arms. "Get on with it then," I nearly snapped. He as well took on a more business like posture.

"As you wish. Just to make sure, are you aware or at least familiar with the name of a man, Amon? Leader of a group called the Revelation?" I felt myself gasp at the familiar name. The masked man's sinister, husky growl rang again in my head like an alarm.

_"I'm coming for you..."_

"Korra?" I snapped up to see Tarrlok with a very rare look of concern. "Hm? Oh, yeah, I've heard of that," I replied quickly, removing the look of angst that must've crossed my face. He rose a skeptical brow.

"Is.. there something more important we need to discuss?" Korra, hurry. Create a diversion. NOW.

"Oh, no no, it's nothing. But yeah, I've heard of them. I saw some annoying twat on the street pass flyers and rant about it one day in town. Of course, he wouldn't reveal much information to me, due to me being a bender and all," I explained a little hastily. Unexpectedly, he completely avoided asking me anything else about that little brooding moment, and went to another subject. He cleared his throat.

"Well, I'm rather surprised you already know about this kind of information. I didn't know Tenzin was allowed you this much free rein," he remarked with a raised brow. "He doesn't." I corrected curtly, before he could make anymore assumptions. "This happened on the first day I arrived in this city."

"Ahh," Tarrlok murmured in acknowledgement. I'm wondering if I should or shouldn't reveal to him about that attack yesterday...

"Well, let me brief you on the basic information. They are a troop of seemingly very well-trained non-benders lead by, supposedly, another non-bender named Amon; whose objective is to wipe out benders. That's all of the information we've gathered so far. According to an attack scene was reported yesterday..." He explain, trailing off into deep thought. He found out about that? Oh well, no need to worry now. I might as well ask.

"You mean the one on Toshiaki Street?" His eyes went a little wide, giving me a confused look. "Yes...how do you know about that?" Would it be safe to say I was there...? I mean, there were gangs down there. What would happen if he assumed I was associated with them? Ugh, I can just see the headlines now. _"Is the Avatar TWO FACED?!" _That damned prick. I'd be better off lying. "Nah, I heard something about it yesterday from gossip on the street. But you're a more reliable source of information, I'm sure. What exactly happened?" His expression became very stern, and he leaned in, continuing on.

"Well, I found out when several people ran into the police department, screaming their heads off. I happened to be there as well at the time, so I went in search with the police force. We came across a barred tunnel that didn't seem too suspicious until we saw motorcycle tracks on the ground. Once we had got inside, we found the equalists, still in the act of piling... bodies in large vans." I shivered.

"There were at least a dozen of them, already filled up. We tried our best to stop the vans but...we were just too late. We lost them by midnight" he explained with a vexed look crossing his face. It's kind of weird how he sounds more upset about not being able to catch them rather than being upset over the fact that many people got hurt. I guess for him, it's pride over the safety others.

"But, there were just as many people left, thankfully just unconscious. We tried asking them about what happened but, majority of them were still confused. We brought them to police headquarters and tried to get as much information as we could out of them. They're still gathering information as we speak." He groaned in frustration and slammed his fist down on the table, breaking the silence and making me flinch at the sudden loud sound. "But we still have no definite answer as to what their motives are! We need to find out what their leader's reasoning is for all this madness. But as of now, we have not even one of their fighters to interrogate."

Oh wow...I didn't know it was that bad...For once, I thought maybe he was concerned about the city's well-being. Sometimes, it's just really hard to tell with that condescending, arrogant visage of his. But my new opinions on him burned to ash when I saw that same, devious smile grow quickly across his face.

"But that is where you come into play," he began dramatically, pointing to me. "As you should already know, this school is filled with benders and non-benders alike. But, it has now come to our attention that all non-benders are a threat. And when I say all of them, I mean _all_of them. I need you to begin making subtle, private investigations on every non-bender you find suspicious, and report back to me every two weeks. How does that sound?" He asked "politely," that patronizing smile still there.

No. Oh _hell_ no. I stood up abruptly, feeling outraged. "You want to know what I think, Tarrlok? I think you are the most insufferable, stubborn piece of sh-"

"Watch your language, young lady," he warned gravely, interrupting me. "This is a school, after all. I didn't ask for the superfluous name calling." I tried calming my temper down to be somewhat rational, for once.

Inhale, exhale, repeat.

"Why exactly do you need _me_ of all people to interrogate others?"

"I thought you would ask that. You see, many of us who are working on this case are in their old age, making them suspicious if they were to suddenly start following people of and around your age. But you, with your age and innocent appearance, no one would suspect you. That, is why you are the perfect pawn, Avatar Korra."

That still doesn't cut it for me. "Do you not realize I have a lot more important things to do? School? Learning how to air-bend?" I asked, my tone filled with incredulity. He scoffed and his voice rose with irritation.

"So, I take it that your personal life is more imperative than the city's well-being? Is your redundant training for one petty element and play time with that street urchin worth more than innocent lives that could be taken?" I froze and felt my breath catch in my throat. I'm so fucked. How does he know about that? He smirked in satisfaction.

"Yes, I know about that little affair. And I can just see the press' faces now when I reveal all this _very_interesting information to them," he threatened, that smug smile of his getting impossibly wider.

"You will help, whether you want to or not. So, as usual, we could do this the easy way, or if that fails... well, I think you know what the alternative is. I have you right in the palm of my hands and there is nothing you can do about it. So, it's your choice." He sat back, a winning grin staining his face. I wanted to hurt him. I honestly wanted to severely hurt him. I wanted grab him from where he was sitting, hurl him into a wall and literally mutilate him.

But I can't. I hate being controlled, more than anything in the world, but there really is nothing I can do. Because he's right. I would have to do it either way. It's the sad truth. I was literally shaking with anger, my hands balled into fists. But I have restraint; even if it _is _limited. I let my pride get the best of me, and didn't bother to answer him. I quickly grabbed my bag and turned, fast walking the hell out of there before I could smash his face in.

"I expect to see you in a few weeks then, Avatar," he called cheerfully, chuckling. I stopped in my steps, not at all caring for the consequences of my next actions as turned to him with a deadly glare. "FUCK YOU!" I heard him tsking behind me. "That's a write-up right there, Ms. Mitsuko," he said with not a single hint of regret in his tone. I roared in frustration, stomping out the door and slamming it nearly off its secure hinges behind me.

I was still huffing in anger when I turned to see a wide eyed, apprehensive Iroh, staring at me with an anxious expression. He cleared his throat cautiously.

"Is..everything okay..?" he asked warily. Like hell everything's okay! I groaned and ignored him, leaving the room. As I nearly stomped down the halls, I looked to the clock to see that class was about to let out. And just before I could open the door, the bell rang, signaling for our dismissal to our next class. Great. I've had my day's fill of hearing crap from teachers already. I'm so sick of Tarrlok and his crap. I'm sick of being forced into doing his dirty work. I'm sick of feeling so...trapped.

**A/N: Is this too cliché? :l I hope not..**

**Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy new Year :)**

**Thanks for reading~ Please review!**

**~Serena**


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